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San Antonio Researchers: Can Malaria Help Fight Off Ebola?

Texas Biomed scientist Olena Shtanko suits up to study Ebola infected mice in one of its biosafety level four labs.
Texas Biomed
Texas Biomed scientist Olena Shtanko suits up to study Ebola infected mice in one of its biosafety level four labs.
Texas Biomed scientist Olena Shtanko suits up to study Ebola infected mice in one of its biosafety level four labs.
Credit Texas Biomed
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Texas Biomed
Texas Biomed scientist Olena Shtanko suits up to study Ebola infected mice in one of its biosafety level four labs.

It's a tale of two diseases. Researchers at the Texas Biomedical Research Instituteare trying to figure out if being infected with malaria can help a person infected with Ebolafight off the disease.

With an ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congothat has sickened more than 300 people, killing nearly 200, and the death of Thomas Duncan in Dallas of the disease four years ago, researchers in the U.S. are working hard to better understand the virus and how to fight it.

Texas Biomed scientist Olena Shtanko said there is evidence that suggests some people who are already infected with malaria do better if they are infected with Ebola, but there is also evidence suggesting the opposite.

Shtanko said she thinks an acute, recent infection with the malaria parasite revs up the immune system and helps an infected person fight off the Ebola virus, while a chronic infection weakens a person’s immune system, making them more susceptible to contracting the disease.

"We are going to infect mice with the malaria parasite,” Shtanko said, “and then these mice are going to be challenged with the Ebola virus, and we are going to ask a question: ‘Is malaria parasite protective against Ebola virus or not?’ "

In the end, Shtanko hopes her research teaches her much more than whether or not malaria is protective against Ebola. She said the goal is to really understand the human immune system and how it responds to Ebola infection, as well as other similar infections.

"We have not been studying this — ever. We actually don't understand anything about it,” Shtanko said. “So this is going to open a brand new avenue for us to know how to target the diseases. Not only Ebola but other diseases that act on us in a similar manner."

The National Institutes of Healthhas given Texas Biomed a grant for this study, which will take place over the next two years.

Bonnie Petrie can be reached at bonnie@tpr.org or on Twitter @kbonniepetrie

Copyright 2020 Texas Public Radio. To see more, visit Texas Public Radio.

Bonnie Petrie is a proud new member of the news team at WUWM. She is a reporter who - over her twenty year career - has been honored by both the Texas an New York Associated Press Broadcasters, as well as the Radio, Television and Digital News Association, for her reporting, anchoring, special series production and use of sound.
Bonnie Petrie
Bonnie Petrie covers bioscience and medicine for Texas Public Radio.