Ebola in New York: Could We Stop it With Blood?

Earlier today, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that a new imported case of Ebola has developed in an American health worker. His chances of survival look positive, and experts are saying that his blood, along with the blood of other survivors, could potentially help treat the disease.

The healthcare worker, who remains unnamed, returned to the United States after volunteering in West Africa for an extended period of time. He reportedly went through a rigorous screening process upon arrival at JFK Airport on Oct. 17, but was not presenting a fever or other Ebola symptoms at that time.

However, upon coming down with a low-grade fever yesterday, he contacted local health officials and was promptly isolated. He was then transported by a specially trained HAZ TAC unit wearing Personal Protective Equipment to Bellevue Hospital for treatment.

"The New York City Health Department has interviewed the patient regarding close contacts and activities. Three members of CDC's Ebola Response Team arrived in New York City last night," the CDC reported in an official statement. "Additional team members will be arriving today to New York City."

As things stand, the patient is stable, and the CDC is confident that chances of secondary infections - as seen in Texas - remain very low.

And despite the fact that the disease has a 50 percent mortality rate, the NY patient's chances of survival look good. This is largely because the infection was identified less than a day after it first stirred from its incubating slumber.

The Boon of Blood

If the NY patient does indeed survive this tragic ordeal, his blood may help quell the deadly pandemic that is still raging in countries across West Africa - namely Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

That's at least according to a team of international researchers who will assess whether treatment with antibodies in the blood of recovered Ebola survivors could help infected patients fight off the disease. (Scroll to read on...)

Infection is never a "white or black" situation. Experts have long known that the human immune system is capable of fighting off most infections (save those that impact the immune system directly). Still, sometimes a disease tears through the body faster than the immune system can handle, and unfortunate patients run out of time.

For those who do survive an infection - largely thanks to modern medicine buying enough time for the immune system to work its magic - their blood can be found boasting specialized antibodies that can specifically target the offending virus.

Right now, modern medicine is not terribly effective in buying time for Ebola patients whose infections have already spread. That's why early diagnoses and intervention - like seen in this latest US case - remain key.

However, the research team, led by the Institute of Tropical Medicine, strongly believe that studying survivors' antibodies can help give doctors the edge they need.

"Blood and plasma therapy are medical interventions with a long history, safely used for other infectious diseases," Johan van Griensven, the project's coordinating investigator, said in a statement. "We want to find out whether this approach works for Ebola, is safe and can be put into practice to reduce the number of deaths in the present outbreak."

The team already received € 2.9 million (~$3.7 USD) from European Union (EU) funding to evaluate this treatment approach, and Griensven says decision-makers won't regret it. He argues that there is another benefit to this kind of treatment as well.

"Ebola survivors contributing to curb the epidemic by donating blood could reduce fear of the disease and improve their acceptance in the communities," he explained.

Currently, many West Africans remain highly suspicious of the disease, and some even consider those infected as cursed.

"Ebola is a disease that scares people and that is perceived as mysterious, but people can overcome it," Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Emergency Coordinator Marie-Christine Ferir said in a statement back in June. "Earning people's trust is essential in efforts to fight the epidemic."