Experimental treatment shows promise in treating multiple types of Ebola virus

There’s potential good news on the Ebola treatment front — though for future outbreaks, not the current epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. U.S. scientists report that a cocktail made of two antibodies isolated from an Ebola survivor are able to combat multiple species of Ebola viruses. Current monoclonal antibody therapies, like ZMapp, are species-specific — which means different treatments would need to be developed, tested and licensed for the Zaire, Sudan, and Bundibugyo Ebola viruses. Testing in hamsters, ferrets, and primates showed that a single dose of the new combination — licensed by ZMapp maker Mapp Biopharmaceutical — is effective against all three species.