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BBC                                             Dec. 24, 2014       

West Africa's Ebola crisis is likely to last until the end of 2015, says a leading researcher who helped to discover the virus.

Peter Piot, who has just returned from Sierra Leone, told the BBC that he was encouraged by progress there and by the promise of new anti-viral therapies.

But he also warned that vaccines would take time to develop....

Prof Piot was one of the scientists who discovered Ebola in 1976and is now Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

He said that even though the outbreak has peaked in Liberia and was likely to peak in Sierra Leone in the next few weeks, the epidemic could have a "very long tail and a bumpy tail"...

"We need to be ready for a long effort, a sustained effort [for] probably the rest of 2015."

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30595352

NATURE     by  Delcan Butler                                                                                        Dec. 23, 2014

With no drugs available to treat Ebola, eyes are turning to a therapy that had largely been relegated to the history books: transfusing patients with blood plasma donated by survivors, which contains antibodies against the virus.

Survivors of Ebola carry antibodies that might be used to save the lives of those infected with the virus. Michel du Cille/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Clinical trials of convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) have started in the past few weeks in Liberia, and are due to begin soon in Guinea and Sierra Leone. If the therapy saves lives, the approach could quickly be scaled up.

GENOMEWEB                                                                                                                        Dec. 22, 2014
NEW YORK -- Tekmira Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has signed a deal that will support the clinical testing of its experimental Ebola therapy designed against the strain of the virus behind the outbreak in West Africa.

Tekmira has long been developing an siRNA-based Ebola drug called TKM-Ebola, but a Phase I study of that agent was suspended by US regulators until the company could provide additional safety data. Earlier this year, Tekmira management indicated that that trial might not restart as early as anticipated since the firm had begun focusing on a version specifically for the Guinea strain of the Ebola virus, which is driving the ongoing outbreak.

Tekmira said it has now inked a manufacturing and clinical trial agreement with the University of Oxford to provide the new drug, called TKM-Ebola-Guinea, for clinical trials in West Africa. The university is the representative of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium, which will be testing TKM-Ebola-Guinea in infected individuals with funding from the Wellcome Trust.

MILITARY TIMES By Andrew Tilghman                                                                                Dec. 19, 2014
Thousands of troops deployed to West Africa to help contain the Ebola virus will have to wait a few more weeks to find out whether the policy of 21-day quarantines after their redeployment will continue, military officials said.

The Pentagon has granted an extension on the deadline for reviewing the controversial rule requiring a 21-day, post-deployment quarantine. The review will now be completed by Jan. 30, 2015.

When Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the quarantine on Oct. 29, he ordered military officials to conduct a review within 45 days to determine whether it was effective and necessary.

That review was due on Dec. 12, but Hagel granted a seven-week extension following a request from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey.

Read complete story.
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2014/12/19/ebola-quarantine-review/20637663/?utm_source=December+22+2014+EN&utm_campaign=12%2F22%2F2014&utm_medium=email