Researchers identify a pathway used by filoviruses to enter cells
It was once thought that Ebola and related filoviruses were more or less contained to Central Africa. After a West African outbreak and the discovery of Reston ebolavirus in the Philippines, cuevavirus in Spain and various bat filoviruses in China, researchers now understand that this viral family--causing hemorrhagic fevers with up to 90% case fatality rates--has been widespread around the world for millions of years.
Our defenses against it are more embryonic, and though we have a vaccine against one species of Ebola and some therapeutic antibodies on the horizon, both have production or distribution issues. What doctors have been hoping for is a regular drug that can treat Ebola as soon as it rears its terrifying head. A study published today in the journal