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March 4, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“Researchers Get a View of How Ebola Hijacks Cells”

Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com) (03/04/02) P. B1; Chase, Marilyn

A team of scientists has uncovered how the Ebola virus is able to take over human cells.  The discovery, which is reported in the current Journal of Experimental Medicine, opens up the possibility of new drugs and a vaccine to combat the deadly disease.   The researchers—from the laboratory of molecular microbiology at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases—found that the Ebola virus enters cells through “lipid rafts,” tiny fat platforms that float on top of the cell membranes.  For that reason, cholesterol-lowering statin drugs and antifungal drugs may be useful in fighting the disease. Ebola takes the lives of approximately 80 percent of the people who contract the disease, in many cases causing them to bleed to death within a month.  According to the World Health Organization, Ebola has killed over 1,000 people since it was discovered in 1976.

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