Health workers in Democratic Republic of Congo have begun giving patients two experimental treatments to tackle the latest outbreak of Ebola as the number of cases climbs above 100, Reuters reports. The first dose of Gilead Science’s antiviral drug Remdesivir was administered on Tuesday (August 21), while the monoclonal antibody treatment mAb114 was deployed nearly two weeks ago. 

“As of 20 August 2018, a total of 102 confirmed and probable [Ebola virus disease] cases, including 59 deaths, have been reported,” the World Health Organization (WHO) writes in a situation report published yesterday (August 22). Besides mAb114, “The Ethics Committee in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has approved the use of four additional experimental therapeutics, namely: ZMapp, Remdesivir, Favipiravir, and Regn3450 - 3471 – 3479” to be used by Ebola treatment centers.

See “Q&A: Anthony Fauci Describes an Experimental Ebola Treatment

The latest outbreak was discovered...

See “New Ebola Outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo

Health workers have been particularly affected by the latest outbreak, accounting for 12 of the 75 cases that have been confirmed so far. “There’s an extremely low level of knowledge and awareness about Ebola in the area,” epidemiologist Peter Salama, head of the WHO’s response to the outbreak, tells Science. “Early on, the health care workers took no precautions whatsoever, and unfortunately, we’re expecting more confirmed cases from that group.”

Meanwhile, vaccination teams are continuing to administer an experimental Ebola vaccine, Merck’s rVSV-ZEBOV, to health workers and people in contact with Ebola patients. Reuters reports that 2,179 people have received the vaccine so far, and more doses are on their way to Beni now.

See “Experimental Ebola Vaccinations to Resume in Democratic Republic of Congo

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