Ebola - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: Ebola

Explanation:
In a first, scientists have developed an effective, rapid and economical treatment for the deadly Ebola virus using antibodies from horses.

The post-exposure treatment made with antibodies from horses could be used in the next Ebola outbreak.

This is a cost-effective treatment that can be used in low-income countries in Africa where equine production facilities are already in operation for producing snake-bite antivenin.

It's the first time that equine antibodies have been shown to work effectively against Ebola infection.

The largest recorded outbreak of Ebola virus occurred primarily in West Africa from 2014 to 2016, infecting 30,000 people and killing more than 11,000, with exported cases in Europe and North America.

The development of monoclonal antibodies were used in the UK to treat infected health workers returning from Africa.

The down side is that monoclonal antibodies require considerable investment for scale-up and manufacture, and are expensive.

Equine antibodies are a considerably cheaper alternative, with manufacturing capacity already in place in Africa.

Antibodies from vaccinated horses provide a low-cost alternative, and are already in use for rabies, botulism and diphtheria.

Scientists have also developed experimental Ebola vaccine made using an Australian virus called Kunjin, that might also help in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
This low cost machine can be used to monitor endemic, epidemic and pandemic disease outbreaks in resource-limited developing countries that need portable diagnostic equipment that functions outside the hospital. New tests and on site diagnostic testing will benefit from this.

ANSWER: Guinea

Explanation:
Guinea has been declared Ebola free on 29th December 2015 after more than 2500 persons died from the virus in the W. African nation. Liberia is the only country still awaiting the countdown towards the close of the epidemic. Ebola has orphaned 6200 children in Guinea where there have been 3,800 cases of which more than 26,600 cases were global with 11,300 deaths as per a WHO figure. Massive number of deaths have been in the following countries- Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

ANSWER: Ebola

Explanation:
A new clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine has been found to stimulate strong immune system responses in adults in West Africa, US and Mali. The first testing of this vaccine has yielded positive results in terms of finding out dose to be used in subsequent clinical trials and for large-scale manufacture of the vaccine. As per researchers from WHO, if larger trials yield positive impact, this vaccine will attain regulatory approval to prevent future outbreaks of the disease.

ANSWER: Ebola

Explanation:
Researchers have come up with chip based technology which can be included in portable instruments for use in the field to detect Ebola. System is sensitive and accurate enough to provide valuable clinical assay. Current standard for Ebola virus detection is based on the PCR method/polymerase chain reaction to amplify the genetic material of the virus for detection. PCR works on DNA molecules and Ebola is an RNA virus. This is why the reverse transcriptase enzyme is used to make DNA copies of the viral RNA before PCR amplification and detection. But the PCR detection system is more complex and requires use of labs against current method Schmidt's lab at UC Santa Cruz worked with scientists at Brigham Young University and UC Berkeley for setting up the system. Virologists at Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio put together the viral samples for testing. System included a microfluidic chip for sample preparation and an optofluidic chip for optical detection.

ANSWER: Liberia

Explanation:
In Liberia no new cases of Ebola were reported in past 42 days which is twice the number of days the virus requires to incubate.