Thomas E. Duncan, the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, is treated with an experimental drug in the hospital, where he is being treated, according to hospital officials cited by USA Today. According to a statement released by the hospital, the 41 year old patient is in a critical, but stable condition.
The drug, called brincidofovir, is a broad spectrum antiviral agent that has shown promise in early trials against the Ebola virus during ‘in vitro’ tests, according to a statement made by the Texas Presbyerian Hospital, the medical facility where Mr. Duncan is under treatment. This is the first time brincidofovir is tested against Ebola in humans. Chimetric, the North Carolina-based manufacturer of the drug, has received special permission from the FDA to offer the drug to patients infected with Ebola, on requests that came from the doctors treating said patients.
Until this day there are no proven treatments against Ebola, this dangerous hemorrhagic fever endemic in Africa. Several patients treated in the United States and in Europe have received untested, experimental treatments against the disease – it remains to be seen if they prove to be effective. Two patients have received a drug called ZMapp, containing artificial antibodies against the virus, and one of them has received TKM-Ebola, made by a Canadian company.
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Brincidofovir does not have a long record in fighting Ebola, but it has been used with considerable success in case of patients infected with cytomegalovirus, causing a harmless child disease, but deadly to patients who have their immune system suppressed (like after receiving an organ transplant). It is also tested as a general countermeasure against smallpox. There are several Ebola treatments currently under development, and two vaccines are currently under clinical trials, but none of them will be ready in time for the current patients to receive them.