Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly donated a unit of blood to treat another infected U.S. doctor, Samaritan’s Purse tells NBC News. Brantly flew to Nebraska last week to donate his blood to use to treat Dr. Rick Sacra, Samaritan’s Purse President and CEO Franklin Graham said. “He flew out from North Carolina to Nebraska to give a unit of blood,” Graham said in an interview with NBC News. “His blood was a perfect match.” [eap_ad_1] Sacra, a volunteer who was working in Liberia for another group, SIM, is being treated at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Using serum from the survivor of a disease is not a new approach, but it’s considered highly experimental. Last week the World Health Organization endorsed the approach, saying it was worth trying. The idea is that survivors have antibodies to the virus in their blood, and those antibodies can kick-start the immune system of another patient. Brantly and fellow missionary Nancy Writebol were treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. They both got an experiment therapy based on engineered antibodies called ZMapp. (CNBC)
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