Experimental Drug Stops Ebola-like Infection

sciencehabit writes: An experimental treatment against an Ebola-related virus can protect monkeys even when given up to 3 days after infection, the point at which they show the first signs of disease. The virus, known as Marburg, causes severe hemorrhagic fever—vomiting, diarrhea, and internal bleeding. In one outbreak, it killed 90% of people it infected. There are no proven treatments or vaccines against it. The new results raise hopes that the treatment might be useful for human patients even if they don't receive it until well after infection. The company that makes the compound, Tekmira, based in Burnaby, Canada, has started a human safety trial of a related drug to treat Ebola virus disease, and researchers hope that it, too, might offer protection even after a patient has started to feel ill. In other Ebola news, the two American aid workers who were infected with the virus while in Liberia have now recovered and been released from the hospital.

Here's What Bugs Me

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw the news conference of the doctor who was cured of Ebola and it's a great example of how religion twists the mind. The guy stood there in front of the cameras and spent ages thanking God for his recovery, then gave a long description of how people who had prayed for him also helped. Right at the end the doctors who had done the ACTUAL WORK keeping him alive got a passing mention.

Crazy.

Re:Here's What Bugs Me

[Anonymous Coward]

I too am a little incensed when I hear people thank God for saving them from their illness. Not out of any particular dislike for religion, but for the fact that if you believe God is responsible you ought to accept that He is also the guilty party when you were infected in the first place. A little cognitive dissonance goes a long way.