Addressing Therapeutic Options for Ebola Virus Infection in Current and Future Outbreaks

Ebola virus can cause severe hemorrhagic disease with high fatality rates. Currently, no specific therapeutic agent or vaccine has been approved for treatment and prevention of Ebola virus infection of humans. Although the number of Ebola cases has fallen in the last few weeks, multiple outbreaks of Ebola virus infection and the likelihood of future exposure highlight the need for development and rapid evaluation of pre- and postexposure treatments. Here, we briefly review the existing and future options for anti-Ebola therapy, based on the data coming from rare clinical reports, studies on animals, and results from in vitromodels. We also project the mechanistic hypotheses of several potential drugs against Ebola virus, including small-molecule-based drugs, which are under development and being tested in animal models or in vitro using various cell types. Our paper discusses strategies toward identifying and testing anti-Ebola virus properties of known andmedically approved drugs, especially those that can limit the pathological inflammatory response in Ebola patients and thereby provide protection frommortality. We un-derline the importance of developing combinational therapy for better treatment outcomes for Ebola patients. Since the first recognized outbreak in 1976, Ebola virus hassurfaced two dozen times, but until 2014 it had sickened fewer than 2,500 people altogether (1, 2). The current outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa is unprecedented, causing more cases and fatalities than all previous outbreaks combined. As of 10 July 2015, the outbreak includes 27,621 reported cases with 11,268 death