--- description: The World Health Organization recommended the use of Ebola survivors' blood to treat those suffering from the deadly disease Friday. title: Ebola Survivors' Blood: WHO Says To Treat Patients With It image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4f72e69495893d0/6986a064d0b6f29316305c83/kent-brantly-ebola2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) ## Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Infectious Disease](/tag/infectious-disease/) ## Infectious Disease Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Officials Urge Use of Ebola Survivors' Blood to Treat Patients  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Sep 5, 2014 9:36 PM CUT  Dr. Kent Brantly an Ebola patient at Emory Hospital, stands with his wife, Amber Brantly, during a press conference announcing his release from the hospital on August 21, 2014 in Atlanta. Dr. Kent Brantly an Ebola patient at Emory Hospital, stands with his wife, Amber Brantly, during a press conference announcing his release from the hospital on August 21, 2014 in Atlanta.Jessica McGowan—Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Sep 5, 2014 9:36 PM CUT Health officials on Friday [recommended](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ebola-ravages-health-care-sierra-leone-capital "undefined") the use of [Ebola](http://topics.time.com/ebola/ "undefined") survivors’ blood to treat those suffering from an outbreak of the deadly disease in West Africa. “We have to change the sense that there is no hope,” Marie-Paule Kieny, an assistant director-general of the World Health Organization, said during a conference of health experts, the Associated Press reports. The use of blood was one method on a long list of experimental treatments suggested at the conference. RNA-based treatments and pre-existing drugs designed for other diseases were among the other potential options. The experts stressed the need for rigorous data-keeping and evaluation to determine the efficacy of each potential solution. [Kent Brantly](http://time.com/3270016/ebola-survivor-kent-brantly/ "undefined"), an American doctor who survived an Ebola infection, was given blood from another Ebola survivor during his infection. He also received ZMapp, a vaccine that has been developed to address the disease. Experts said it will take time to produce more ZMapp and another promising vaccine that could stem the spread of Ebola, which has already killed more than 2,000 people in West Africa. The Obama Administration has asked Congress to provide funds to accelerate the development of ZMapp. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3275671/who-ebola-survivors-blood/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3275671/who-ebola-survivors-blood/"},"headline":"Officials Urge Use of Ebola Survivors' Blood to Treat Patients","datePublished":"2014-09-05T21:36:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:02:28.737Z","description":"Amid outbreak that has killed more than 2,000","url":"https://time.com/3275671/who-ebola-survivors-blood/","keywords":["Infectious Disease","medicine","Disease","WHO","ebola","blood"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4f72e69495893d0/6986a064d0b6f29316305c83/kent-brantly-ebola2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4f72e69495893d0/6986a064d0b6f29316305c83/kent-brantly-ebola2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dr. Kent Brantly an Ebola patient at Emory Hospital, stands with his wife, Amber Brantly, during a press conference announcing his release from the hospital on August 21, 2014 in Atlanta.","caption":"Dr. Kent Brantly an Ebola patient at Emory Hospital, stands with his wife, Amber Brantly, during a press conference announcing his release from the hospital on August 21, 2014 in Atlanta.","creditText":"Jessica McGowan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3275671/who-ebola-survivors-blood/","name":"Officials Urge Use of Ebola Survivors' Blood to Treat Patients"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola","description":"Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/G194AmTC/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-13T23:41:12.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/G194AmTC.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3275671/who-ebola-survivors-blood/","duration":"PT2M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3275671/who-ebola-survivors-blood/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```