Ebola Shortage Research Paper

EBOLA OUTRAGE, BY: JAYLA FRANKLIN 

Two US humanitarian workers who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia have been released from Emory University hospital in Atlanta after receiving an experimental drug treatment which has yet to go through full clinical and human trials. Dr. Kent Brantly of Texas and Nancy Writebol, a missionary from North Carolina, contracted Ebola while responding to the outbreak in Liberia. Brantly and Writebol were both treated in the hospital’s containment unit, which is specially equipped to care for patients with serious communicable diseases.
“Today is a miraculous day”, Brantly said at a press conference at Emory hospital on Thursday to announce his discharge from care. “I am thrilled
Doctors cautioned that it was too soon to hope that the treatment could hasten the end of the public health crisis: Dr. Bruce Ribner, medical director of Emory hospital’s infectious disease unit said that it was unclear if the drug had contributed to the pair’s recovery and suggested it may have even delayed their return to health.
Liberian officials have said that three African medics who have also been given the treatment are showing “remarkable signs of improvement.”
But Ribner said there was no scientific basis to suggest the treatment was a cure. “They are very first ever to receive these agents. There are no prior experiments with this. We do not know if it’s improved them… or even delayed their recovery,” cautioned Ribner
Even if the treatment is effective, the California-based manufacturer of ZMapp, Mapp Biopharmaceutical, said that “the available supply of ZMapp has been exhausted.”
Brantley and Writebol were both treated in Emory hospital’s containment unit, which is specially equipped to care for patients with serious communicable
It is five months since the first case of Ebola was confirmed in Guinea, spreading quickly into Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. According to the World Health Organization 2,473 people have so far contracted the disease which, once symptomatic, can kill within five days.
Brantley said the virus was not on the radar when he and his family moved to west Africa two years ago, but he noticed a steady increase in Ebola patients in June and July. His wife and children returned to the US on 20 July, but Brantley stayed on to continue his work.
Three days later, he felt ill. “I woke up feeling under the weather, and then my life took an unexpected turn as I was diagnosed with Ebola virus disease,” he said.
Brantly,33, was flown out of Liberia on 2 August on a private jet outfitted with a containment tent and was admitted to Emory, which is one of only four institutions in the US capable of property handling patients with a disease of this nature, according to the hospital. Writebol, 59, arrived three days