Doctors in Liberia have begun a test program to treat Ebola patients with serum made from the blood of people who survived the disease and built up antibodies.  They hope the trial run will mark a turning point in combating the virus that’s killed more than 6,800 people in the current epidemic in West Africa.

The Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding the trial of about 70 patients with some US$5.7 Million, and coordinating it through Liberian national health authorities and the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

“This will empower local health care systems to become more self-sufficient and better serve their patients during this current epidemic as well as in the future,” said Dr. David Hoover, the program’s director.  If it works, it could be self perpetuating – more survivors would be able to donate more blood from which the scientists could extract more life-saving antibodies.

“Convalescent blood therapy” was developed by a Prussian scientist in the early 20th century, but fell out of favor with the development of antibiotic and antiviral drugs.  Although science has known about Ebola since the 1970s, the virus until this year mainly struck in remote areas with few patients and big pharmaceutical companies haven’t bothered to come up with treatments.  With Ebola racing through the slums of three West African capitals, developing a treatment has acquired new urgency.

Meanwhile, survivors of the Ebola epidemic are facing another health threat – WHO reports that 40 percent have gone on to develop eye problems, including blindness.  We know Ebola attacks the tissues and causes massive bleeding in highly symptomatic patients, and the tissues include the eyes.  Uveitis occurs when a virus triggers the immune system, and causes the innermost coating of the eye to become inflamed.  It leaves patients with dim and blurred vision, and pain when they’re in bright light.  If left untreated it can lead to blindness.

WHO says surviving Ebola doesn’t mean patients return to perfect health:  79 percent suffer from joint pain;  42 percent have problems sleeping;  more than 33 percent experienced peeling of the skin.  Many others reported problems with their reproductive system.