Ebola has faded from the headlines and the consciousness of many Americans, but many continue to suffer and die from the disease every day in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. There is currently no effective therapy for Ebola.
Ebola Clinical Research Consortium Examines Potential Treatment
The potential for the continued spread of Ebola and the opportunity to learn more about this and other emerging infectious diseases has spurred Duke to join the Ebola Clinical Research Consortium (ECRC) in collaboration with UNC investigators. Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) professor Christopher Woods leads the Duke membership in the consortium, which is helping Liberian colleagues implement a clinical trial to examine a potential treatment for Ebola.
Other Duke consortium members include Nathan Thielman, Ralph Corey, Micah McClain and Mehri McKellar. David Wohl and Billy Fischer lead the UNC contingent.
Threat of Infectious Disease Warrants Increased Attention
Ebola and other novel pathogens like SARS and bird flu have heightened international awareness and concern about the potential for large-scale worldwide epidemics. Much more attention and funding needs to be directed toward preventing and treating emerging infectious diseases, says Woods, who is also a professor in the departments of medicine and pathology at Duke, chair of the infectious disease division of the Durham Veterans Administration (VA) medical center and an adjunct faculty member in the Duke-NUS Emerging Infections program and the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health.
“Emerging pathogens like Ebola have the potential to cripple all the progress we have made in the field of infectious diseases in recent decades,” says Woods. “Climate change, global demographic shifts, economic transformation and political instability have all contributed to the increased likelihood for contracting new infectious diseases and allowing others to propagate, particularly in heavily populated urban environments with poor health care infrastructure.”
Plasma May Hold Promise for Ebola Patients
The current clinical trial involves drawing blood from Ebola survivors, separating the plasma, testing to ensure it doesn’t contain other infectious agents, and then infusing the plasma into infected patients. “It is thought that survivors develop antibodies to the disease, which we believe are protective,” says Woods. “We believe that by infusing this plasma into the blood of infected individuals, we can bring down the level of the virus enough to allow the patient’s own immune system to work.”
The trial is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through Ohio-based Clinical Research Management. DGHI affiliate faculty member Coleen Cunningham, chief of pediatric infectious diseases and pediatric global health at Duke, is currently helping implement the trial in Liberia.
Woods believes this trial will allow the research team to learn about the various elements that contribute to patient survival from a highly infectious and deadly disease like Ebola and could potentially open entirely new areas of study into the treatment of infectious disease.
