Saturday, November 15, 2014

Immunity to EBOLA?





On November 10, 2014, the New York Times released an article discussing the recent findings from researchers that claim that the survivors of Ebola have certain antibodies that can help current victims with overcoming the horrible disease. This immunity is only present in the current outbreak in West Africa called, Ebola Zaire. For many years, scientists have found that some Africans have a natural genetic disposition to fight off Ebola. They can be surrounded by the disease but not display any of the symptoms. In the year 2000, a team of French scientists conducted a research study in which they took thousands of blood samples from various villages across Gabon to test whether or not the members of these villages possessed these antibodies. They found that 15% of the population did; of the 15%, 3% were near the coast and 34% were near the jungles of Congo. Scientists however, still are unaware of what genes are responsible for this immunity and how strong or weak these antibodies are. There was evidence of people with very low and high levels of antibodies. Although the source of these antibodies are unknown, researchers suggest that the African population could have come in contact with the virus by eating monkeys or fruit bats. Because they are natural harbors of the virus, if eaten, a small amount of the virus can enter the blood stream enough to result in immunity. Although researchers would like to believe that these antibodies could greatly improve the conditions for current victims of Ebola, they do not have solid evidence that it is effective.

This article was a very interesting read. With the recent uproar about the spreading of Ebola, it is great to hear that scientists may have a breakthrough in its prevention. One of the questions that arose while reading this article was how scientists are going to go about testing whether or not their hypothesis is true. I recently watched a video that covered the first outbreak of Ebola in Africa which discussed this very topic of immunity. It showed that the western doctors decided to test their antibody theory by injecting people who did not have Ebola with the Ebola virus, and then injecting them with the blood of a survivor to see if the antibodies would fight off the disease. I found this to be a very inhumane and unethical form of medical practice. Although I do not think scientists would resort to such practices, it is interesting to see how they will go about it. In my opinion, it would be much more logical to test the theory out on someone who is already affected by the disease, as long as the blood types match.

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