With the recent blood donation of one of the American Ebola survivors, researchers may finally able to figure out how to effectively neutralize the deadly virus.
The Ebola outbreak continues to take lives, especially in Western African nations such as Liberia and Sierra Leone. One of the main issues is that there is no available cure. Although some have received medications for treatment, they still remained experimental.
But here is the good news: we may already be on the way of discovering how to put an end to it once and for all, thanks to the blood donation of Rick Sacra.
Rick was working as a missionary physician in Liberia, helping patients infected with Ebola, when he contracted the disease himself. He was flown back to the United States where, as part of his treatment, he received plasma transfusion from Kent Brantley, one of the first Ebola survivors.
Sacra attributed his later recovery to such treatments, including the plasma transfusion. Thus, he is now donating his blood to Vanderbilt University, specifically to Dr. James Crowe, who has been trying to find out how the antibodies of survivors work so they can determine the best way to create drugs that can eliminate the Ebola strain.
Actually, the doctor, who is working for the company that is also testing the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp, has already been searching for such types of blood, but the supply is very scarce. That is why they consider the donation of Sacra last November to be a blessing.
According to Sacra, the team can already extract the antibodies found in his blood and study their structure, composition, or how they work-and what makes them different from antibodies of non-infected people. Meanwhile, he's set to travel to Liberia again early next year to help treat not Ebola but other diseases.
