From the infected could come life! Blood from recovered Ebola patients could hold key to stopping outbreak

A new tool in the fight against Ebola could come from those who have been infected with the disease and lived.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The World Health Organization (WHO) says that serums made from blood of recovered Ebola patients may be available within just a few weeks in Liberia.

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Liberia, along with Sierra Leone and Guinea are the nations hit hardest by the current outbreak which has killed more than 4,500 people.

In Geneva, Dr. Marie Paule Kieny, the WHO's assistant director general for health system and innovation, said that they hope to get drugs and a vaccine ready for the beginning of 2015.

"There are partnerships which are starting to be put in place to have capacity in the three countries to safely extract plasma and make preparation that can be used for the treatment of infective patients," she said.

"The partnership which is moving the quickest will be in Liberia where we hope that in the coming weeks there will be facilities set up to collect the blood, treat the blood and be able to process it for use."

It is not yet clear just how much of these new drugs and/or vaccines will be available, or even if it will meet potential demand, but it is a step in the right direction to contain the outbreak that has been devastating West Africa since early 2014.

Any person who has successfully recovered after being infected with Ebola has antibodies in their blood that can help fight off Ebola if injected into a sick person.

By taking a sample of blood, removing the red blood cells and keeping the important antibodies, doctors can create the anti-Ebola serum.

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