News outlets report on medical research related to potential Ebola treatments and vaccines, as well as research related to other neglected tropical diseases.

The Guardian: Ebola is in America — and, finally, within range of Big Pharma
“As the Ebola epidemic continues to rage in West Africa, with more than 3,000 dead and infections doubling every few weeks, the first confirmed case in the U.S. last week stepped up global fears over the rapid spread of the incurable virus. But behind the gruesome headlines, the scale of the outbreak has been raising hopes that it could focus minds at the world’s biggest pharmaceutical groups, boosting research on other devastating tropical diseases that have been neglected for years by the drugs makers…” (Kollewe, 10/4).

New York Times: A Plan to Use Survivors’ Blood for Ebola Treatment in Africa
“With no proven drugs to treat Ebola and experimental ones in short supply, the health authorities are planning to turn instead to a treatment that is walking around in the outbreak zone in West Africa. That would be the blood of people who have been sickened by the Ebola virus but have since recovered. Their blood should contain antibodies that might help other patients fight off the infection…” (Pollack, 10/3).

Wall Street Journal: Ebola Vaccine Safety Study Could Expand by Early 2015 in West African Patients
“The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said an early safety study of an Ebola vaccine has been under way for more than a month, and that the vaccine could be tested in West African patients by early 2015. Anthony S. Fauci, appearing with other federal officials at a news conference at the White House on Friday, said the early testing of the vaccine for safety in humans ‘looks good so far’…” (Burton, 10/3).