Ebola Virus May Have Found its Enemy
by Rizza Estanilla in Beauty & Wellness on Sep 13, 2011
According to U.S. researchers, a drug to be developed in treating Ebola may probably come from a protein that aids in transporting cholesterol within cells. This is considered as a rare condition, however, as Ebola stands to be a lethal virus in which no treatments are known.
A mice bred in a laboratory in order to generate protein of low levels named as Niemann-Pick C1 have survived Ebola exposure, which infects a hemorrhagic fever and also its relative, the virus Marburg.
Harvard Medical School’s Sean Whelan accounted that the new research has identified a cellular protein that is critical wherein the Ebola virus requires affecting disease and infection.
Additionally, Whelan stated that the new discovery also has enhanced the probabilities in which drugs can be improved that directly fight the infections caused by Ebola.
Ebola is known as one of the top infections that are deadly, killing about ninety percent of the population who are infected by such virus.
The virus was first observed in 1976 along the Ebola River’s villages in Sudan and Congo. It is typically lethal in humans and among other primates like gorillas, chimpanzees, and monkeys.
To this point, in Africa, there are about two dozens of Ebola outbreaks. No one has the knowledge on how the virus spread. There are still no accessible anti-viral drugs or vaccines in fighting against its infections.
Kartik Chandran from Albert Einstein College of Medicine explained that Niemann-Pick C1 is the same protein that the virus seems to be obtaining.
In the study, mice that have low levels of such protein are much resistant to be killed by either the Marburg or Ebola virus.
Chandran’s team is very hopeful that this latest study could lead to development of treatments.
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