Zee Media Bureau/Shruti Saxena
New Delhi: Researchers have found that the experimental Ebola drug 'Zmapp' can help monkeys survive the deadly infection.
Trials conducted on 18 monkeys showed 100 per cent effectiveness against the deadly virus. The monkeys were injected with Zmapp drug three to five days after they were found to be infected with the virus. Later, six other monkeys were given a slightly different version of the trial drug and it showed positive results in all the cases.
There is no proven vaccine or cure available for Ebola virus at present. But, with the virus outbreak raging, the treatment boosts hopes that the deadly virus may work incase of human trials.
However, a Liberian doctor and a Spanish priest, who were affected with the virus and were given Zmapp drug have died.
Altogether 1,013 human deaths have been recorded in the Ebola-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Monday.
The WHO has declared the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa as an international health emergency.
Ebola virus, which spreads through mucous and other body fluids or secretions such as stool, urine, saliva and semen of infected people, is believed to be very difficult to control at present.
