Molecule promises to speed up discovery of universal anti-Ebola drugs 

     Researchers are looking further into curing the Ebola virus, by looking at multiple different aspects of what molecules are actually in the virus. They began looking further into peptide-mimic, a molecule that hasn't changed at all even when the actual virus has changed. Since this part of the virus has stayed constant, it gives hope that if they try to target this molecule, we could see a change in an antiviral drug for the Ebola virus. The only problem that they are seeing with this drug is the fact that in the future it might not be effective against the virus, as new strains begin to form. 

     This last idea from investigator Debra Eckert, raised some curiosity in me. At the beginning of the article they were using a molecule that was constant between all of the Ebola virus strains to come up with a drug, but now they are saying that this drug will only be effective for this specific strain of Ebola. Since the molecule is constant, wouldn't that make the drug effective on multiple strains of the virus? Also, in the first sentence of the article it states: "discovery of anti-Ebola agents capable of dealing with all current strains and any that emerge in future epidemics," which seemed to conflict with Eckert's statement saying that it was unlikely that it would treat future strains. As this article was very interesting for me to learn more on how the researchers are trying to find a way to keep us safe from this virus, I thought it was very contradicting of itself.



http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/283738.php