Back to the convalescent serum issue. This article is skimpy on details, but the WHO is reporting that there are plans to start using convalescent serum more widely in West Africa.

It's an experimental treatment, so we will see how it goes. Once a larger number of patients start getting it, we may get a clearer idea of its effectiveness. The article doesn't say if any clinical trials will be conducted at the same time, although it does mention vaccine trials. I think the popular perception is that blood transfusions can help, so the political pressure may be too great to deny the treatment to Ebola patients in the form of a placebo.

One side story to this new strategy is that there do appear to be asymptomatic survivors of Ebola, too, who also have antibodies to the virus. I referred to it in another post but there's no telling how small or large that number is. That may expand the pool of potential donors, but that's just conjecture for the time being.