Ebola drug's success bolsters approach for other diseases

NEW YORK. KAZINFORM An experimental drug given to two U.S. health workers infected with Ebola may help raise the profile of an immune strategy that's already shown promise against other diseases, including HIV.

The Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. drug, called ZMapp, is an antibody cocktail designed to block the virus from entering cells. The strategy was thought to be best at preventing infections, but ZMapp's outcomes in animals, and now possibly humans, suggests the antibodies may treat the sick as well. While it's too early to say the Mapp drug works, the attention may help speed development of antibody-based treatments against other diseases, including HIV-AIDS, responsible for an estimated 1.6 million deathsglobally in 2012, and drug-resistant bacterial infections, the killer of about 23,000 people in the U.S. each year, Bloomberg reports.