This therapy utilizes a sequence-specific short-chain RNA (referred to as a siRNA), which is designed to target and interfere with Ebola virus to make it harmless. One advantage of this approach is the ability to quickly change to a different Ebola virus strains.

Galveston Medical Branch professor of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Thomas Geisbert said: “We will soon adopt a candidate therapy to target the Ebola virus outbreak strain Makona in 3 days after infection. Started this treatment can protect all of our non-human primates against infection of Ebola virus Makona lethal. By this time, those infected animals show clinical symptoms of the disease, the virus can be detected in the blood. ”

In all infected animals showed symptoms of advanced disease, those treated animals showed only minor symptoms, and can be completely recovered. Untreated control animals and in the eighth day of the ninth day die from this disease, which is associated with the patient began to show symptoms of Ebola reported very similar.

This treatment also prevents Ebola virus infection in the liver and kidney damage and blood disorders appear. The results show that, in addition to providing effective control of the survival rate and the level of the virus outside the body, this treatment may also provide protection.

2014, an outbreak of the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, resulting in the death of nearly ten thousand people, attracted worldwide attention. Africa’s population was due to rapidly rising trend in the frequency of human contact with the natural reservoir of the Ebola virus is also raising, the future is very likely outbreak similar disaster again.

Dr. Mark Murray, CEO and president of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, said: “This study confirms that we can quickly and accurately using our siRNA-LNP technology to target a new outbreak of Ebola virus genetic sequence that appears.”