Ebola may have a weakness / Blood pressure linked to dementia / Antidepressants may raise ulcer risk

Ebola, the mysterious virus responsible for periodic deadly outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever in Africa, may have an Achilles' heel, scientists at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla reported Thursday.

Writing in the journal Nature, researchers revealed the shape of a protein that the virus uses to enter healthy cells, providing a possible target for drugs. Scientists also discovered some parts of the virus are similar in structure to parts of the HIV and Epstein-Barr virus, suggesting Ebola may help scientists understand why some diseases manage to avoid the body's defenses.

More than 1,850 human cases, including 1,200 deaths, have been recorded since Ebola was first identified more than three decades ago in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire. The virus causes high fever, diarrhea and vomiting and often leads to severe internal bleeding.

Blood pressure, dementia linked

Treating high blood pressure in the very elderly may help reduce their risk of developing dementia, according to a report Monday in the journal Lancet Neurology.

The findings were based on an analysis of four studies looking at the effects of blood pressure drugs in several thousand elderly patients. When data was pooled, the combined results showed that taking medication to reduce blood pressure also cut the risk of dementia by 13%.

More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60% to 80% of cases. The second most common form is vascular dementia, which can result from a stroke or a narrowing of blood vessels in the brain. Treatment for high blood pressure has already been shown to help reduce the risk of strokes and heart problems, researchers said.

Antidepressants raise ulcer risk

Taking an antidepressant may increase the odds of developing an ulcer, although the overall risk remains small, according to a report published Tuesday in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

The study of 1,321 people with gastrointestinal bleeding found that such drugs as Eli Lilly's Prozac, Forest Laboratories' Celexa and Lexapro, GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil, Pfizer's Zoloft, and Wyeth's Effexor could trigger gastrointestinal bleeding in one of every 2,000 patients. The risk increased to 1 in 250 patients when aspirin or pain drugs also were taken, according to the report.

The medicines interfere with platelets, a critical part of the body's normal clotting process, researchers said. Drugs that suppress the production of acid in the stomach -- Prevacid, Prilosec, Nexium and Protonix -- may avert bleeding for those most vulnerable and should be considered, researchers said.

From Times Staff and Wire Reports