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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Health & Science

Ebola: Why Children Are Last to Be Treated in Medical Crises

From Tempo · () Indonesian

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • More than 3,000 people have died since an Ebola outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of Congo in mid-May, with children under five facing a mortality rate above 60%.
  • Doctors Without Borders says young children often receive inadequate treatment because medicines and guidance for pediatric patients remain limited.
  • A study of the experimental antiviral obeldesivir may expand to include children over 20 kilograms, while lighter children would rely on difficult-to-administer intravenous remdesivir.

More than 3,000 people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the current Ebola outbreak began in mid-May. Young children face the highest risk, with more than 60% of infected children under five expected to die, according to a Doctors Without Borders commentary published in The Lancet.

The aid organization says the danger does not come only from the disease itself. Children often lack medicines and treatment guidance designed for young patients. “Children must be centered in Ebola treatment and prevention research,” Doctors Without Borders wrote in early September.

The debate has focused on the EBO-PEP study, which began in mid-July and is examining the experimental antiviral obeldesivir. The drug is being studied for its ability to protect people exposed to the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, the strain involved in the current outbreak. Children weighing under 30 kilograms, generally around 12 or younger, were excluded from the original study. New protocols could include children weighing more than 20 kilograms.

Children must be centered in Ebola treatment and prevention research.

· Doctors Without BordersThe organization called for research and treatment protocols to give children a central role.

Children below 20 kilograms, roughly six or younger, would still be excluded. Their alternative is remdesivir, administered intravenously. Doctors Without Borders says a 10-day course of infusions is difficult to deliver during an outbreak, particularly to young children. Pediatrician Neal Russell, who advises the organization and led the Lancet commentary, said children are harder to diagnose because their early symptoms resemble other illnesses and they may struggle to describe how they feel. They also need closer monitoring, specially trained staff, and, where possible, support from parents or caregivers inside treatment centers.

The article also describes treatment in Germany. After an American doctor contracted Bundibugyo Ebola while caring for patients, Berlin’s Charite hospital considered his wife and four children at high risk and treated the family prophylactically with the experimental antibody drug MBP134. “Of course, a careful risk benefit assessment had to be carried out,” said Han Ngoc Le, a doctor involved in the treatment.

Of course, a careful risk benefit assessment had to be carried out.

· Han Ngoc LeThe Berlin hospital doctor described the decision to give an experimental antibody drug to a family exposed to Ebola.
About this summary

Originally published by Tempo. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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