The whole world watched as Ebola virus claimed the lives of thousands in West Africa in 2014. The outbreak has caused probably the darkest days in the region and people could only hope for an effective treatment right away. Scientists worked to formulate a solution, but unfortunately, a study confirmed that one of the most anticipated treatments — blood plasma transfusion from survivors — is not effective.
In February 2015, researchers started obtaining blood plasma from Ebola survivors. They then transfused it to 84 patients in a treatment unit in Guinea's capital, Conakry. From there, the researchers hoped that the antibodies developed by the survivors will create a protective barrier against the active Ebola virus. Sadly, it did not.
"Of course you would like to dream and see a very strong reduction in mortality, but we didn't see this," says chief author Dr. Johan van Griensven from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium.
Since the early part of the 20th century, medical experts have been infusing what is called "convalescent" plasma to patients affected by infectious diseases. The strategy lost its popularity with the invention of antibiotics and antiviral medications, but it is still being used to treat some diseases such as Argentine hemorrhagic fever.
For the new study, those who received survivor plasma had a slightly lesser risk of death compared to the control group that did not receive the treatment. For the plasma recipients, the death rate was 31 percent, while for the control group, it was 38 percent.
The researchers adjusted other factors that may affect survival such as age, but the results of the plasma treatment remained far from impressive.
What could have gone wrong?
The researchers say it might be that they were not exactly sure how much antibodies were present in the plasma of the survivors.
Ebola virus is a deadly disease and studying the virus requires an extensive laboratory setup, complete with special safety gear, something that is not available in the stricken nations.
"We might have anticipated there would be an effect," says Dr. William Schaffner, from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who was not involved in the study.
An interesting twist though is the unexpected death rates among certain populations. For example, children aged below 5 years old are thought to have poor outcomes and the highest risk of mortality, but in the clinical trial, 4 out of 5 survived. The same goes for pregnant women, who are commonly associated with having poor prognosis. In the convalescent plasma treatment, 6 out of 8 survived, the researchers wrote.
Such findings may suggest that Ebola treatment is far trickier than expected.
Ebola virus has already killed 11,315 people as of Dec. 27, 2015, the World Health Organization says. The total number of people affected by the disease as of the same date is 28,637.
On Dec. 29, WHO announced that Guinea is Ebola-free. The epidemic will be declared over if no new patients will be diagnosed by Jan. 14.
The current study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday, Jan. 7.
Photo: David Jones | Flickr
