High hopes for clinical trials of new Ebola treatments in Guinea and Liberia

There are high hopes for possible new Ebola treatments being tested in Africa.The charity Doctors Without Borders has announced the start of clinical trials next month of three potential new treatments in Guinea and Liberia.New US and Japanese drugs will be tested on several hundred patients. Researchers will also examine the effectiveness of using blood plasma from Ebola survivors. British, Dutch and French experts are helping in the trials.Doctors Without Borders says early results could be known as early as February next year.The Ebola epidemic in West Africa has so far claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people, with 13,000 infections recorded.Most of the cases are in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.Meanwhile, a 25- year-old nurse has died of Ebola in Mali. She had been treating a man from neighbouring Guinea who died after showing Ebola-like symptoms.Ninety people have been quarantined as a precaution in the clinic where the nurse worked.