Ebola birth control pills? A new drug shows a survival of up to 100 % in the monkeys

We might have just found an easy treatment to circumvent one of the bloodiest diseases there. In research released this month, scientists have reported that one dose of experimental contraceptive pills has greatly reduced the high death rate of Ebola infection, at least in non -human main main.

The researchers in the medical branch at the University of Texas led the study, Published Friday in the magazine Science Advances. Prevention of treatment, which is an oral antiviral called obeldesivir, up to 100 % of the monkeys of monkeys given a high dose of the bloodiest types of Ebola. The researchers say that these and other results indicate that obeldesivir can become a very effective action against Ebola and similar infections that can quickly lead to tremendous bleeding and death.

Ebola The result of several strains related to viruses (officially called orthopedic viruses). The most common and most bloody Ebola version of the Ebola virus (named after the name that was first discovered), which can be the death rate of 90 % if not treated.

The symptoms of Ebola initially include fever, pain and other flu -like symptoms, but the infection can advance and cause widespread organs and heavy internal bleeding that leaks from people’s bodies, known as hemorrhagic fever.

Ebola is an animal disease, and this means that the outbreak of the disease usually begins when a person is exposed to infected animals (African fruit bats are believed to be a basic tank). But it can also spread among people through a close connection with physical fluids, including blood and semen. While the rapid progress of symptoms and the height of the deadly in Ebola often prevents spread on a large scale, it has sometimes raised Wide -ranging outbreaks. During the period from 2014 to 2016, for example, the outbreak of the Zaire Epolfairus virus in West Africa was nearly 30,000 people and killed more than 11,000. No outbreaks have since reached this level of destruction, but Ebola viruses and relevant hemorrhage are still a serious threat to public health in countries where they are already located.

Nowadays, there are effective vaccines and treatments approved for some types of Ebola. But the vaccine supplies are limited and the current antibodies based on cold conditions should be stored and taken intravenously, which limits their availability and benefit. Therefore, UTMB researchers believe that obeldesivir- oral version of antiviral Remdesivir, which was originally developed for Covid-19-could represent a pivotal step forward in the treatment of Ebola.

In their new study, they gave Cynomolgus and Rhesus Macaques a deadly dose of Zaire virus variable, then give them obeldesivir after a day of injury. Inentity, 100 % of the Rhesus devices that have exposed obeldesivir from their infection, while 80 % of Cynomolgus Macaques did it too. Treatment delayed the ability of the virus to repeat and even seems to enhance the immune response to monkeys or antibodies.

The previous team’s work with Monkeys has already found that Obelsivir may be effective against the Sudan virus, which is the second most common Ebola. Earlier in January, the researchers It was also found Obedesivir can protect monkeys from Marburg, another cousin of an killer in Ebola (a It has finished recently From Marburg, at least 10 people were killed in Tanzania this year).

More research will be needed to check the potential of the drug against Ebola in humans, of course. But researchers hope that Obedesivir will become a widespread and more suitable weapon against these deadly infections.

“In order to respond to the outbreak, oral antivirals may provide great advantages on now approved venous drugs, such as ease of display, storage, distribution and management,” they wrote in their paper.