The Journal of Immunology had an article that showed there was some enhanced immunity against Ebola with those that have been vaccinated against rabies. The challenges were only in primates, no human subjects have been tested....yet.
capitalism & free enterprise at work:
1 million dollars for a pint of my blood.
Blood for sale.Just in time for Halloween
If the blood transfusion is effective, there should be an ever larger group of survivors to donate blood.
Muggles...
What about those of us with 80 proof blood?
In Sierra Leone, the United Nations is training survivors to help sick children, who often suffer through illness with no one to touch or comfort them.So it shouldn’t be a total loss; anyone who survives the ordeal of Ebola should be recruited as a nurse’s aide at an RN pay grade, as an Ebola specialist.But far from importing Ebola cases here as Obama insanely intends, we export our Ebola cases to West Africa - where the survivors to be trained as specialists are numerous - almost one for every two past Ebola deaths. Along with our Ebola cases, we send money to pay those survivor-specialists, and we send protective gear and disposables to enable West Africa to become a center of excellence in treatment. We don’t need to be the place where people go to get treated for Ebola.
I guess I’m out of luck. My ancestors are from Ireland and Germany.
If they're white, then it's racist!
/sarc
It is likely that the about 5-10% of Americans that are effectively immune to both black plague and HIV are also immune to Ebola. If one of their parents had the immunity factor, called CCR5 delta 32, they will get sick but recover; and if both parents have it, they won’t get sick.
It works by preventing cell adhesion by the virus. If a virus cannot stick to a cell and penetrate it to reproduce, then it and millions of its clones break out of the dead cell to spread, it dies.
The percentage of CCR5 delta 32 in different ethnic populations:
European Descent: 16%
African Americans: 2%
Ashkenazi Jew: 13%
Middle Eastern: 2-6%
Other peoples have little or no trace of the mutation.
Read the article and check out the hypertext links:
Meet The Children Who Are Resistant To Contracting Ebola, HIV-AIDS
http://addiandcassi.com/meet-children-resistant-contracting-hivaids-ebola/
Excerpt:
Because my twins’ NPC cholesterol genes are non functional, scientists have learned their cells are resistant to contracting Ebola and HIV-AIDS (and probably a host of other viruses that use the NPC gene pathway to infect humans). Read the research announcement here. They actually want to “give” NPC disease for short period of time if someone gets Ebola — turn the gene off temporarily so the virus can’t replicate, then turn it back on.
You can understand more about the implications and importance of the NPC gene if you also read the Department of Defense Ebola and NPC announcement.
If some people exposed to Duncan can develop immunity without getting sick, more power to them!
PING!