MOSCOW, October 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will send the new anti-viral drug triazavirin to West Africa to help in the struggle against the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said Monday.
"In the next two months we will produce enough triazavirin to send to our team in Guinea and to see its efficiency in clinical use," Skvortsova said at the Sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), held in Moscow.
According to the minister, the efficiency of the new drug varies from 70 to 90 percent.
Triazavirin is a new Russian anti-viral drug, which can be used to treat 15 strains of the flu virus, including A/H1N1, also known as swine flu and H5N1, known as avian (bird) flu, at any stage of the disease.
The current Ebola epidemic broke out in Guinea and spread to the neighboring countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal. According to the WHO, more than 4,000 people have lost their lives to Ebola.
A team of Russian epidemiologists, virologists and bacteriologists is currently stationed in Guinea and, according to Russian sanitary chief Anna Popova, Russia is considering sending further teams of healthcare workers to West Africa. According to Russian health officials, Russia is currently testing its anti-Ebola vaccine and has begun working on a new drug to treat and prevent Ebola.
