FDA warns of fraudulent ebola treatments
The FDA said that it has seen and received consumer complaints regarding a variety of products claiming to treat ebola since the outbreak of the disease in West Africa.
While there are experimental ebola treatments currently in development, there are no FDA-approved vaccines or drugs to treat or prevent the disease. By law, dietary supplements cannot claim to cure or prevent diseases.
The FDA also said that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the ebola virus does not pose a significant risk to public health in the U.S.
The FDA urged consumers who have seen fraudulent products or false claims to report them to the agency, and said that individuals promoting the products must take immediate action to correct or remove the items or face FDA action.
More than 1,100 people have died so far from the current ebola outbreak, which is the most severe in history. Most of the cases have been reported in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The Centers for Disease Control and other organizations have recently stepped up their response to the outbreak.