A study performed in the United States using high-speed technology found 53 drugs already in use that may help combat Ebola. It was a joint study involving the Icahn School at Mount Sinai and also the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their findings were reported in the journal Emerging Microbes and Infections.

The purpose of the study was to find medications that could possibly block the ability of Ebola to enter human cells. As many as 2,816 compounds were scanned that had already been approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).

The researchers discovered that the drugs most likely to stop Ebola from infecting humans are those often used in the treatment of cancer and depression, and drugs that include antibiotics and antihistamines. Now that these 53 drugs have been identified, experimentation on animals will begin.

Since the drugs are already approved, it will not take long to discover which ones will work against Ebola, and which ones will not. Of course, there is also a concern about safety, side effects, dosage needed, and which ones are most effective.

It is hoped that finding these 53 drugs will help to develop effective Ebola drugs quickly, said the primary author of the study, Adolfo García-Sastre, PhD. He is currently the Director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute, a school in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

So far there are no Ebola drugs that have received FDA approval. Because the present Ebola outbreak in West Africa has a death rate as high as 70 percent in some areas, the faster a drug can be tested and applied to the situation, the more lives there are that can be saved.

One Ebola drug that has been used with limited success is ZMapp. It had been used successfully in animal tests, and also in the cases of Dr. Keith Brantly and Nancy Whitebol. The problem with it is that it was never confirmed in clinical studies and it is difficult to make.

As the research team looked to identify possible drugs in the study that might work, their goal was to find drugs that would block Ebola’s ability to enter human cells by 50 percent. To do this, they used an Ebola-like particle that works similarly to the real virus, but that does not have the deadly aspects of it.

The death toll from the Ebola virus in West Africa was officially raised by the World Health Organization (WHO) today, and it now stands at 6,915. The total number of cases, including cases that have been verified, probable, and those that are suspected, are 18,603.

The outbreak continues to be worst in Sierra Leone, where the number of deaths has exceeded those in Guinea and Liberia. A new outbreak occurred in the Kona district, and spread fast, which shows the surprising speed at which Ebola can move.

The people in that district did not know to seek treatment promptly, and this resulted in a death rate there of 85 percent. They also did not know that rehydration is necessary. Another problem was that the hospital staff was not trained to know how to handle Ebola patients safely.

Finding a new Ebola drug that will work out of these 53 drugs will provide a shortcut – if one is proven to have satisfactory results. A drug alone, however, will not stop Ebola, there must also be proper medical training and cooperation from the people in those areas where outbreaks occur.