17 Aug 2019

A cure for Ebola? Virologist Chris Smith

From Saturday Morning, 8:13 am on 17 August 2019
Medical staff of the Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) get ready to work in their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during their weekly rehearsal at the Bwera General Hospital in Bwera bordering with DRC, western Uganda, on December 12, 2018.

Photo: AFP

New antibody based treatments with a success rate of up to 90% are set to become a game-changer in the fight against the deadly viral disease Ebola.

A recent outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that began in August last year has killed more than 1,800 people.

Dr Chris Smith is a consultant virologist at Cambridge University and one of BBC Radio 5 Live's Naked Scientists.

He'll talk about the threat posed by Ebola, and the hope that these new experimental treatments will be able to contain the latest outbreak and lessen the 'aura of terror' surrounding this dreaded haemorraghic disease.