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Ebola: Official MSF Response to WHO Declaring Epidemic an "Extraordinary Event"

           

msf.org.uk - August 8, 2014

In a statement released today, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that West Africa's Ebola epidemic is an "extraordinary event" and now constitutes an international health risk.

"A coordinated international response is deemed essential to stop and reverse the international spread of Ebola," the WHO said in a statement after a two-day meeting of its emergency committee on Ebola.

MSF reaction to WHO Ebola statement

In response, Dr Bart Janssens, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Director of Operations said:

“Declaring Ebola an international public health emergency shows how seriously WHO is taking the current outbreak but statements won’t save lives

“Now we need this statement to translate into immediate action on the ground. For weeks, MSF has been repeating that a massive medical, epidemiological and public health response is desperately needed to saves lives and reverse the course of the epidemic.

“Lives are being lost because the response is too slow.

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ZMapp - Information Sheet

                                                        

ZMapp TM is the result of a collaboration between Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. and LeafBio (San Diego, CA), Defyrus Inc. (Toronto, Canada), the U.S. government and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

ZMapp TM is composed of three “humanized” monoclonal antibodies manufactured in plants, specifically Nicotiana.  It is an optimized cocktail combining the best components of MB-­‐003 (Mapp) and ZMAb (Defyrus/PHAC).

ZMapp TM was first identified as a drug candidate in January 2014 and has not yet been evaluated for safety in humans.  As such very little of the drug is currently available.  

Any decision to use an experimental drug in a patient would be a decision made by the treating physician under the regulatory guidelines of the FDA.

Mapp and its partners are cooperating with appropriate government agencies to increase production as quickly as possible.

CLICK HERE - ZMapp - Information Sheet (1 page .PDF file)

http://www.mappbio.com/

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Experimental Ebola Serum Grown in Tobacco Leaves

                                                     

webmd.com - by Brenda Goodman - reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD

Aug. 4, 2014 -- ZMapp, the experimental treatment rushed to two Americans infected with Ebola in Africa, is grown in specially modified leaves of tobacco -- a plant better known for harming health than healing.

“We complied with a request from Emory University and Samaritan’s Purse to provide a very limited amount of ZMapp last week,” says David Howard, a spokesman for Reynolds American Services, the parent company of Kentucky BioProcessing. The small biopharma company in Owensboro, KY, has been contracted to grow the drug.

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9 Questions About this New Ebola Drug

      

cnn.com - by By Jacque Wilson and Danielle Dellorto - August 5, 2014

(CNN) -- Two American missionary workers infected with the deadly Ebola virus were given an experimental drug that seems to have saved their lives.

Dr. Kent Brantly was given the medication, ZMapp, shortly after telling his doctors he thought he would die, according to a source familiar with his case. Within an hour, doctors say his symptoms -- labored breathing and a widespread rash -- dramatically improved. Nancy Writebol, another missionary working with Samaritan's Purse, received two doses of the medication and has also shown significant improvement, sources say.

As there is no proven treatment and no vaccine for Ebola, this experimental drug is raising lots of questions.

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Secret serum likely saved Ebola patients

Three top secret, experimental vials stored at subzero temperatures were flown into Liberia last week in a last-ditch effort to save two American missionary workers who had contracted Ebola, according to a source familiar with details of the treatment.

On July 22, Dr. Kent Brantly woke up feeling feverish. Fearing the worst, Brantly immediately isolated himself. Nancy Writebol's symptoms started three days later. A rapid field blood test confirmed the infection in both of them after they had become ill with fever, vomiting and diarrhea.

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Living in the shadow of Ebola

 

As West African nations try to stop the deadly Ebola virus from spreading, people living in the affected countries are nervous. In Sierra Leone, communities are keeping a close eye on the exact locations where the disease has emerged.

The posters are crudely drawn and graphic. There's one pasted to the wall of the squat, concrete community centre in Kroo Bay, a slum in the centre of the capital Freetown, the kind of place where you can imagine disease spreading fast.

The houses are built of breeze block and have battered, rusting roofs. The spaces between them are piled with garbage, small children with no shoes tote yellow plastic jerry cans of water through the narrow lanes.

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WHO Director-General assesses the Ebola outbreak with three West African presidents

Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General of the World Health Organization

Overview of the Ebola situation delivered to the Presidents of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone
Conakry, Guinea 

1 August 2014

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Safe burial to reduce Ebola spread

Another challenge in trying to contain Ebola is the very strong cultural beliefs in that area of Africa.

The No. 1 contamination risk is touching the body around the time someone has died from Ebola.

"They do rituals before they bury the body that involves washing the bodies and even, sometimes, sleeping with them, the dead person."

So after someone dies at a treatment centre, the Doctors Without Borders staff bring the family to the centre and do what they call a safe burial.

"We wash the body and we put them in a body bag, but with the zipper open so they can see the face, and we bring the body to the village," in conjunction with the Guinea Red Cross, Forget says.

"People can still do a burial process but in a safe way so they don't touch the body … they can still pray and perform ceremonies but without touching the body.

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Ebola : ouverture d'un sommet régional à Conakry

Les présidents de la Guinée, du Liberia, de la Sierra Leone et de la Côte d'Ivoire sont attendus vendredi à Conakry pour participer à un sommet régional consacré à l'épidémie d'Ebola.

Un sommet régional consacré à l'épidémie d'Ebola se tient vendredi 1er août à Conakry en présence des chefs d'État de la Guinée, du Liberia, de la Sierra Leone et de la Côte d'Ivoire. La directrice de l'Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS), Margaret Chan, participera également au sommet où elle lancera un plan d'un montant de 100 millions de dollars.

 

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