Treatment for Ebola?

Historical outbreaks of the Ebola virus as well as its portrayal in popular culture has shown that the virus is almost always deadly with a mortality rate of almost ninety percent. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch attempted to study the virus by observing the biochemical pathways that it uses to infect a host cell. An artificially created virus was used as a means to experiment with, but it strongly resembled and behaved like the dangerous virus itself. Tests run by the researchers showed that the virus takes a minimum of two pathways to enter the cell; they are called the PI3 kinase pathway and the CAMK2 pathway. Pharmaceutical drugs do exist that block both biochemical pathways, so the drugs were tested on the synthesized Ebola virus. The created virus experienced death before infecting the cell as a result of the drugs used. In order to test the drugs in a more practical way, the maximum security "spacesuit" laboratory was used to experiment with the actual Ebola virus that resulted in the Zaire outbreak.
When the drugs were tested on the actual virus, it was found that the PI3 kinase drug lowered the rate of Ebola infection by sixty-five percent. The drugs that stopped the CAMK2 pathway completely killed the virus in all trials. This discovery has opened the possibility of developing drugs that may inhibit Ebola infection or a vaccination. It will certainly play a role in biological warfare, as Ebola has been identified as a likely virus due to its airborne properties. Scientists should expect to develop a drug for the prevention of the virus within the next decade.

Source: University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston