From: "John P. Woodall"
Subject: PROMED: Re: Ebola: serum therapy
To: promed@usa.healthnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 10:48:40 -0500 (EDT)
Re: EBOLA: SERUM THERAPY
========================
On Friday 23 June 1995 George R. Siber wrote:
> 1. Pool plasma and virally inactivate it. There is a good deal >of
experience with solvent-detergent inactivated pooled plasma. >This method
inactivates enveloped viruses (e.g. HIV, hepatitis C) >but not non-enveloped
viruses (HepA, parvoviruses). The latter >pose relatively little risk. The
pool could be well characterized >for antibody activity.
This will probably require maximum containment (P4) laboratory
facilities, at least initially to determine antobody levels and
document neutralisation of ebola virus.
> 2. Pool plasma and prepare a human intravenous immune globulin
>(IVIG).
This would certainly provide a product with a long shelflife, but as
you remark, the plasma pool would have to be large in terms of donors,
requiring at least 30 litres per run, so that plasmaphoresis would be
required on site. I wonder how many convalescent (survivors) donors there
actually are given an 80% mortality?
I have no experience with Ebola and do not know for how long the
viraemia persists but in our experience with Congo-Crimean
Haemorrhagic Fever and an extensive nosocomial outbreak in a large
teaching hospital (1984) we were able to utilize convalescent fresh
frozen plasma with considerable benefit in those cases whose
prognosis was poor as judged by the lack of antibody response.
Immediate clinical improvement and I believe each transfusion
resulted in a drop in circulating virus. The frozen plasma was
administered repetitively, usually daily for as long as it took and
no special plasmaphoresis or fractionation procedures were required.
Like Karl Johnson , I hope that plasma from convalescent patients has been
frozen away.
"Moodie, JW, John, Prof."
From: "John P. Woodall"
Subject: PROMED: Re: Ebola: Serum therapy (2)
To: promed@usa.healthnet.org
Date sent: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 09:37:34 -0500 (EDT)
Re: EBOLA: SERUM THERAPY (2)
============================
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 95 14:47:05 ARG
Inactivated pooled plasma
-------------------------
I read some information in relation to solvent-detergent
inactivated pooled plasma. Immune plasma in standardized doses of
neutralizing antibodies is the specific therapy for Argentine Haemorrhagic
Fever, that reduces case fatality-rate from 30% to less than 1%. As immune
plasma entails the risk of transfusion-borne diseases, conservation of the
therapeutic efficacy is a very important point.
I would be very interested in contacting people working in
this area.
Dra. Delia A. Enria
Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Virales Humanas (INEVH)
"Dr. Julio I. Maiztegui"
CC 195 - 2700 Pergamino
Argentina
TEL: 54-477-33044/29712/29713/29714
FAX: 54-477-33045
Email: postmaster@inevh.sld.ar
...........................................................................
--
Phillip E. Temples phil@usa.healthnet.org, k9hi@netcom.com
Manager, Internetworking Services voice +1 617 868-8522
SatelLife, 126 Rogers St, Cambridge MA USA 02142 fax +1 617 868-6647
From: "John P. Woodall"
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 1995 22:15:05 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: PROMED: Re: Ebola serum therapy (4)
Re: EBOLA SERUM THERAPY (4)
===========================
Reuters reported on 26 July 1995 that Jean-Jacques Muyembe (described as
Zaire's top virologist) believes he has found a way to cure Ebola by
injecting the blood of survivors into victims who are in advanced stages of
the disease.
The report says that out of 8 treated in this manner, 7 lived.
Muyembe said the one who died had arrived at the hospital in an
advanced state of the illness.
Muyembe, in the report, refers to antibodies produced by those who
survive on their own and says "We take the blood of convalescents and give
it to those in the acute phase who are in advanced stages of the sickness."
... "If we prove by scientific study that by giving blood there is a drop in
antigens that will be proof, and we will demonstrate it very soon."
Also in the report, Muyembe says he believes the host is an insect. There
was no mention of what insect is suspected.
- --
Dorothy Preslar, Washington ProMED Officer, Federation of American
Scientists
dpreslar@igc.apc.org
............................
[See below, reported on ProMED 11 days earlier - Moderator]
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 1995 17:45:45 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: PROMED: Re: Ebola: Serum therapy (3)
Re: EBOLA: SERUM THERAPY (3)
============================
Source: Capt Russell Coleman, USAMRIID, speaking at the Seminar on
Responding to the Consequences of Chemical & Biological Terrorism,
Bethesda MD (USA), July 11-13, 1995 -
Convalescent serum is being used currently in Zaire to treat patients. After
a dipstick test for HIV, the serum is transfused into new cases; so far, 7/8
receiving such transfusions have survived Ebola, in contrast to only 1/10
expected to survive without treatment.
....................................................................
To: virology@net.bio.net
From: Andrea Dennis - Imonics Marketing
Subject: Re: Ebola cure found (??)
Date sent: 16 Aug 1995 11:47:45 GMT
Which do you think was more likely to have "cured" the people with Ebola???
Do you think it was the antibodies or the extreme amount of care that they
received, including huge amounts of antibiotics, blood transfusions etc...?
I have seen reports from people like Laurie Garrett which clearly explain that
in the tests where non-human primates with Ebola Zaire were given serum
made from Reston or Sudan and they all died...In fact any exposure to other
serums seems to make the virus react more severely. There are differences
between the Zaire strain and the "Kikwit" strain, but they do seem to
be rather similar. My whole point in this is that just because a "treatment"
which by the way, we can't prove was actually the cure, helped some people
with a specific strain, doesn't mean that that treatment is a cure for
all variations of the disease.
- --
Jack Woodall, ProMED List Moderator, New York State Dept.of Health, Albany
NY, USA
e-mail: jack.woodall@wadsworth.org