EBOLA • Le sang des survivants au cœur d’un marché noir | Courrier international
▻http://www.courrierinternational.com/article/2014/09/18/le-sang-des-survivants-au-coeur-d-un-marche-noir
Alors que le Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU se réunit ce 18 septembre pour étudier un projet de résolution afin d’éradiquer l’épidémie, sur le terrain, c’est le sauve-qui-peut. Le sang de ceux qui ont survécu à la maladie est l’objet d’un commerce.
The black market for Ebola survivors’ blood
▻http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/09/17/the-black-market-for-ebola-survivors-blood
It’s unclear how successful convalescent serum has been in treating Ebola, but with close to half of its victims still alive, the potential pool of donors is substantial. In addition to WHO’s work, doctors at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha are building a registry of survivors by blood type to help future victims, Bloomberg said.
« Aucune médication n’a été approuvée ou n’est immédiatement disponible pour traiter le virus Ebola », rappelle le Post, qui note que l’apparition de ce « business » était prévisible face à l’absence de soins opérationnels et le retard de la mise en place d’un plan d’action .
Use of Ebola Survivors’ Blood as Possible Treatment Gains Support
►http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/04/health/use-of-ebola-survivors-blood-as-possible-treatment-gains-support.html
The World Health Organization is making it a priority to try such convalescent blood or plasma, as it is called, and is talking with the affected countries about how to do it.
This week, the organization issued guidance on how to collect the blood and administer transfusions.
“The concept that this treatment could be efficacious is biologically plausible, as convalescent plasma has been used successfully for the treatment of a variety of infectious agents,” the W.H.O. guidance document says.
Plausibility, however, is not proof that such treatments would work for Ebola and some virologists doubt it will. The results of studies in monkeys were discouraging, they note.
There will also be logistical problems carrying this out in West Africa, where blood banks are not well developed. One challenge will be to make sure that the donated blood, even if it helps patients recover from Ebola, does not give them H.I.V. or hepatitis.
“Major questions need to be answered about the safety and efficacy of convalescent therapies, and the feasibility of implantation in countries with shattered health systems and an acute shortage of medical staff,” the W.H.O. said in a separate statement released a week ago.
Still, with the epidemic spiraling out of control, there is a sense that some treatment needs to be offered, even if only to give sick people hope and a reason to go to medical centers, where they can be stopped from spreading the disease to others. And there are really no other good options.
“The attraction is, at least on the surface, it is something that could be implemented readily,” said Dr. Daniel Bausch, an expert on Ebola at Tulane University and an adviser to the health organization.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust are among the organizations championing convalescent plasma and working on how to put it into effect.
“Blood is donated in West Africa every day of the week for surgery and other things and could be safely tested for viruses,” said Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust.
Such therapies have already been used in the current outbreak. Dr. Kent Brantly, an American aid worker who contracted Ebola in Liberia, received a blood transfusion from a boy who had recovered. After Dr. Brantly survived his bout with the disease, some of his plasma was given to another American aid worker, Dr. Rick Sacra, who also recovered.
But it is not known whether the transfusions helped in those cases, since both men also received experimental drugs and excellent supportive care in American hospitals.