WASHINGTON, May 28, (Agencies): A gene silencing approach can save monkeys from high doses of the most lethal strain of Ebola virus in what researchers call the most viable route yet to treating the deadly and frightening infection.
They used small interfering RNAs or siRNAs, a new technology being developed by a number of companies, to hold the virus at bay for a week until the immune system could take over.
US government researchers and a small Canadian biotech company, Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, worked together to develop the new approach, described in the Lancet medical journal on Thursday.
“The delivery system is the real key,” said Thomas Geisbert of Boston University School of Medicine, who did some of the work while at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Ebola viruses are a family of viruses that can often cause very serious hemorrhagic fevers. They have caused dozens of frightening and deadly outbreaks across Africa and threaten endangered gorilla populations as well as people.
There is no treatment and no vaccine against Ebola, which passes via close personal contact.
The siRNAs are little stretches of genetic material that can block the action of a specific gene. This particular one attaches to three different areas on the Ebola virus, preventing it from replicating.
Geisbert’s team worked with a strain called Zaire that comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo and kills up to 90 percent of those infected.
“We have just had very difficult times developing treatments — antivirals or just any kind of a strategy,” Geisbert said in a telephone interview.
“It’s been a very tough nut to crack.”
The team has announced a number of near-successes, most recently a vaccine that provided partial protection in monkeys in 2006. Then Geisbert got a call from Ian MacLachlan at Tekmira.
The methodology MacLachlan described sounded promising, so they teamed up.
Tests in guinea pigs suggested the siRNAs delivered in little lipid particles would work. But to get Ebola to sicken rodents requires changing it substantially from the strain that attacks people and monkeys, Geisbert said.
Tests in four rhesus monkeys showed that seven daily injections cured 100 percent of them. And Geisbert said the researchers gave the monkeys an extremely high dose of Ebola.
The treatment holds the virus in check while the immune system gears up to fight it, Geisbert said. “There is a critical threshold for virus load and if you go over that, you die,” he said.
“This drug is knocking down enough of the virus so it tips the balance.”
Now the company and researchers are seeking US federal funding to continue their work, Geisbert said. For new drugs to treat lethal infections, the Food and Drug Administration requires proof that the treatment does not hurt people and is effective in at least two animal species.
Tekmira has deals with a number of pharmaceutical companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer.
Last week a team at the National Institutes of Health reported they had developed a vaccine that protects monkeys against several strains of Ebola.
 Three grant agreements for amounts totalling USD 6.85 million were signed on Thursday by Director General of OFID Sulaiman Al-Herbish, with three partner institutions targeting HIV/AIDS.
In a press release, OFID said, “The battle against AIDS is a concern OFID accords high priority in its development work.” Commenting on the new initiatives under consideration, Al-Herbish said that “the lack of awareness and prevention amongst vulnerable groups in this pandemic has become a hindrance toward poverty eradication.” The proceeds for all three grants will be drawn from OFID’s Special Grant Account for HIV/AIDS Operations.
The first grant in the amount of USD 3.5 million will help fund an OFID/WHO Joint Partnership on Prevention of Transfusion-Transmitted HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis Infections in Priority Countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) aims to prevent further transmission of HIV/AIDS in four countries - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan - through universal coverage and improved quality-control mechanisms of testing all donated blood.
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Infant deaths: The South African health department is investigating a spate of infant deaths at state hospitals, with 181 fatalities recorded in one facility since January, officials said on Wednesday.
“A team of experts is to be set up to investigate the situation and come back with recommendations on how such incidents could be averted in the future,” health ministry spokesman Fidel Hadebe said.
The Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in the rural town of Mthatha has recorded the highest number of deaths.
“The director general of the ministry has visited the hospital and is going back again on Thursday. We will leave no stone unturned,” said Hadebe.
Local health authorities have linked most of the 181 infant deaths to HIV, where mothers did not have access to anti-AIDS drugs during pregnancy.
Provincial health chief Phumulo Masualle said the mortality rate was “unacceptably high” but that most of the Mthatha deaths were among premature babies.
South Africa generally has a high infant mortality rate, with 44 babies dying out of every 1,000 born. That is among the lowest rates in Africa, but very high compared to developed countries. In Sweden the rate is 3.2 per 1,000.
Masualle said many HIV-positive mothers went to antenatal clinics when it was too late to receive an effective course of drugs that prevent transmission to newborns.
South Africa has the world’s biggest HIV caseload, with 5.7 percent of the 48 million population carrying the virus. After years of delays in rolling out anti-AIDS drugs, South Africa now has the world’s biggest treatment programme.
South Africa’s overburdened public health system, mainly used by the poor majority with no medical insurance, faces shortages of money and staff.
Private hospitals, ranked among the best in the world, are only affordable for those with medical insurance.
Last week, health officials in Johannesburg revealed that dozens of newborns had died of diarrhoea at city hospitals.
Those deaths had been blamed on poor hygiene by the nursing staff.