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Medical Management and Countermeasures


As the treatment of Ebola has still not been found, there is no antiviral therapy for Ebola virus and no vaccine for Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever or Ebola, the disease has been declared as a potential threat by the U.S. department of Homeland Security.
The supportive care provided by the hospitals to patients suffering from Ebola includes blood transfusion, fluid replacement, maintaining a steady blood pressure and treating other symptoms. The isolation of people who are suspected to have been infected by Ebola virus and those who are confirmed victims of the disease is a preventive measure to not let the disease spread. In fact, the suspected patients should be isolated separately from those patients who are confirmed victims. These quarantine measures are taken at the judgement of public health officials.
A variety of tools and techniques are available with the healthcare providers to test for Ebola virus and for the diagnosis of EHF. Blood tests to detect the RNA of the virus or to detect the antibodies produced in the body to fight the virus can be useful in detecting Ebola. Other techniques include cell culture and electron microscopy.
A little success has been achieved with the experimental vaccines in non-human primate models by The National Institutes of Health (NIH). Research into recombinant adenoviruses, recombinant vesicular stomatitis viruses (VSVs) is going on. The research on other recombinant vaccine products is also going on. A lot of nations have the research work ongoing so that an effective medicine for Ebola can be developed. Countermeasures like some sort of vaccine or antibody serum to prevent the disease are also being researched on.

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