Free Republic

Large swathes of the West African population may be immune to the deadly Ebola virus, ravaging the region. The current outbreak, the worst on record since the virus was discovered in 1976, has claimed the lives of 4,493 people, infecting 8,997, the World Health Organisation said yesterday. But a team of scientists in the US believe the Ebola virus may be silently immunising a significant portion of the population, who never fall ill or infect others, protecting them from future infection. These people will never show the tell-take signs of the disease, the high fever, headaches and flu-like symptoms. They...

... part of the population in West Africa is immune to the Ebola virus, according to virologists who specialize in the disease. Assuming they are correct, and if those people can be identified... Immune persons could safely tend the sick and bury the dead just as smallpox survivors did in the centuries before smallpox vaccine. ...antibodies could be harvested from their blood to treat new Ebola victims. But many factors remain unclear, including which Africans have antibodies and how much antibody is needed to be protective.... “It's fair to say that some people are immune,” said Robert F. Garry Jr.,...