The World Health Organization has just concluded a two-day consultation in Geneva among 200 health officials, regulators, ethicists, scientists and drug company representatives. The goal was to produce a consensus statement on assessing the safety and efficacy of experimental Ebola preventives and treatments. The most immediate action will be taken with convalescent patient serum for treatment and already-planned safety trials for two preventive vaccines. Three primary recommendations were made.
WHO Assistant Director General Dr. Marie Paule Kieny said that, first, blood products made from convalescent and recovered Ebola patients will be the first treatments employed in countries affected by Ebola infections. Serum is the liquid part of blood collected after blood is allowed to clot separately by gravitational force. Serum from Ebola survivors should have antibodies that would…
