Two new experimental Ebola treatments have worked so well they will be offered to all patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo, scientists announced Monday in a medical breakthrough.
This is a massive boost to the region, which has been suffering an Ebola epidemic that has killed at least 1,800 people and infected 2,800 more in a disaster the World Health Organization declared a global emergency.

The antibody-based treatments, known as REGN-EB3 and mAb-114, saved 90 percent of the patients who received them in the infection’s early days. Originally part of a four-treatment trial that began in November, these treatments worked so well that researchers recommended that scientists should focus on these two and stop the other two treatments. The makers of the treatments said there would be enough doses for all patients with Ebola.

Dr. Jean-Paul Muyembe, director of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, has been working to find a cure for Ebola since 1976. He said, “I had this idea a long time ago, and I’ve waited patiently for it. I’m very happy, and I can’t believe it.”

The treatment is said to cure 90% of the tested cases with symptoms reducing within 1 hour.