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Two Ebola victims cured by experimental drugs reunited with families

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UNICEF staff members practise disinfecting themselves while carrying out infection prevention and control training in Juba, South Sudan on February 21, 2019. – The training exercises have been implemented while the threat of Ebola reaching the country remains high with around 460 people having been killed by the virus across the border in DRC. (Photo by ALEX MCBRIDE / AFP) (Photo credit should read ALEX MCBRIDE/AFP/Getty Images)

Two people who cured of Ebola using two experimental drugs have been reunited with their families after being released from a treatment centre in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The two were among a group of four diagnosed in Goma, the largest city affected by the outbreak that has so far killed at least 1,800 people. The two others in that group have since died.

Scientists however are hopeful that Ebola may soon be a preventable and treatable disease after promising clinical trials of two drugs which, according to expert Dr Sabue Mulangu, saw 60% of the 681 patients survive.

Researchers said that with early diagnosis and treatment, however, more than 90% of infected people can survive if they are given REGN-EB3 and mAb114.

The drugs were developed using antibodies harvested from survivors of Ebola. Trials were then co-ordinated by the World Health Organization, and its panel has now recommended the treatments for use by all patients.

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