In a stunning breakthrough that could ease the Ebola virus epidemic, the World Health Organization announced Friday that blood-derived products and serum from survivors may be used to treat the virus immediately — and that two vaccines could be available for health workers by November.
Supplies of the experimental medicines are limited, though the outlook is expected to improve, the WHO said in a statement.
The United Nations agency said, however, good clinical care, rigorous infection prevention and control measures, and the tracing of people who've been exposed are key to ending an epidemic that's killed at least 2,097 in West Africa since March.
"There is a real opportunity that blood-derived products can be used now. This can be very effective in terms of treating patients," WHO assistant director-general Marie-Paule Kieny told a news conference in Geneva.
"With the negative point that we have so many patients, one positive point is there are also many people now who are convalescent, who survived and are doing well, These people can provide blood, serum to treat," she said. "What is available will be used in the field to treat real patients as soon as possible."
Two "promising" Ebola vaccines have also been identified after animal testing, and safety results from human clinical trials may be available from November, paving the way for their use.
They are made by GlaxoSmithKline and NewLink Genetics.
Pending initial results on the vaccines' safety, expected in November, they will be given to healthcare workers in the field as a priority.
"If we have good safety data, if the results are positive, they will start to be used in healthcare workers in order to protect and also to evaluate if it protects them," Kieny said.
"We will have results of safety by November 2014 and after that these vaccines will start to be rolled out starting with healthcare workers and front-line workers in the field."
ZMapp, made by the U.S.-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., has been given to seven people infected with Ebola, including two American aid workers and a Briton who all recovered, but it remains unproven and supplies have run out.
The U.S. government pledged up to $42.3 million this week to accelerate its testing.
"For the time being, there's not enough experience to conclude whether this treatment works or not," Kieny said of ZMapp. "There seem to be encouraging signs.
"As soon as there are supplies available they will be tried."
The New York Times reported that the quick pace of testing, and the bypassing of normal protocols to develop the vaccines, is "absolutely unprecedented," according to Kieny.
Upward of 10,000 doses of one vaccine, based on a modified chimpanzee cold virus, may be available by the end of the year, The Times reported.
"I would love to be the first African" to receive one of the vaccines, said Dr. Samba Sow, director general at the Center for Vaccine Development in Mali, The Times reported.
WHO officials have estimated it would cost $600 million to fight the Ebola outbreak, the worst in the nearly 40-year history of the disease, and that 20,000 people could be infected before it is brought under control, The Times reported.
"One of the things driving fear and panic in the communities and the world is the belief there is no treatment," Kieny said, The Times reported.
Reuters contributed to this report.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.