Ebola...

[natedagg]

Secret serum likely saved Ebola patients
By Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Danielle Dellorto, CNN
updated 12:55 PM EDT, Mon August 4, 2014


(CNN) -- 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.

It's believed both Brantly and Writebol, who worked with the aid organization Samaritan's Purse, contracted Ebola from another health care worker at their hospital in Liberia, although the official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention case investigation has yet to be released.

A representative from the National Institutes of Health contacted Samaritan's Purse in Liberia and offered the experimental treatment, known as ZMapp, for the two patients, according to the source.

The drug was developed by the biotech firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. The patients were told that this treatment had never been tried before in a human being but had shown promise in small experiments with monkeys.

According to company documents, four monkeys infected with Ebola survived after being given the therapy within 24 hours after infection. Two of four additional monkeys that started therapy within 48 hours after infection also survived. One monkey that was not treated died within five days of exposure to the virus.

Brantly and Writebol were aware of the risk of taking a new, little understood treatment; informed consent was obtained from both Americans, according to two sources familiar with the care of the missionary workers. In the monkeys, the experimental serum had been given within 48 hours of infection. Brantly didn't receive it until he'd been sick for nine days.

The medicine is a three-mouse monoclonal antibody, meaning that mice were exposed to fragments of the Ebola virus and then the antibodies generated within the mice's blood were harvested to create the medicine. It works by preventing the virus from entering and infecting new cells.

The Ebola virus causes viral hemorrhagic fever, which refers to a group of viruses that affect multiple organ systems in the body and are often accompanied by bleeding.

Early symptoms include sudden onset of fever, weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat. They later progress to vomiting, diarrhea, impaired kidney and liver function -- and sometimes internal and external bleeding.
The ZMapp vials reached the hospital in Liberia where Brantly and Writebol were being treated Thursday morning. Doctors were instructed to allow the vials to thaw naturally without any additional heat. It was expected that it would be eight to 10 hours before the medicine could be given, according to a source familiar with the process.
Brantly asked that Writebol be given the first dose because he was younger and he thought he had a better chance of fighting it, and she agreed. However, as the first vial was still thawing, Brantly's condition took a sudden turn for the worse.

Brantly began to deteriorate and developed labored breathing. He told his doctors he thought he was dying, according to a source with firsthand knowledge of the situation.

Knowing his dose was still frozen, Brantly asked if he could have Writebol's now-thawed medication. It was brought to his room and administered through an IV. Within an hour of receiving the medication, Brantly's condition dramatically improved. He began breathing easier; the rash over his trunk faded away. One of his doctors described the events as "miraculous."

By the next morning, Brantly was able to take a shower on his own before getting on a specially designed Gulfstream air ambulance jet to be evacuated to the United States.

Writebol also received a vial of the medication. Her response was not as remarkable, according to sources familiar with the treatment. However, doctors on Sunday administered Writebol a second dose of the medication, which resulted in significant improvement.

She was stable enough to be evacuated back to the United States and is expected to arrive before noon Tuesday.
ZMapp has not been approved for human use, and has not even gone through the clinical trial process, which is standard to prove the safety and efficacy of a medication. The process by which the medication was made available to Brantly and Writebol is highly unusual. It may have fallen under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "compassionate use" regulation, which allows access to investigational drugs outside clinical trials.

Getting approval for compassionate use is often long and laborious, but in the case of Brantly and Writebol, they received the medication within seven to 10 days of their exposure to the Ebola virus.

On July 30, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, an arm of the military responsible for any chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive threats, allotted additional funding to MAPP Biopharmaceutical due to "promising results."

Mapp acquired by Allergan (AGN) in case anyone is interested...

 

[Erbium]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/experts-ebola-vaccine-at-least-50-white-people-awa,36580/

Experts: Ebola Vaccine At Least 50 White People Away
News in Brief • Science & Technology • World • health • disease • ISSUE 50•30 • Jul 30, 2014



CONAKRY, GUINEA—With the death toll in West Africa continuing to rise amid a new outbreak of the Ebola virus, leading medical experts announced Wednesday that a vaccine for the deadly disease is still at least 50 white people from being developed. “While all measures are being taken to contain the spread of the contagion, an effective, safe, and reliable Ebola inoculation unfortunately remains roughly 50 to 60 white people away, if not more,” said Tulane University pathologist Gregory Wensmann, adding that while progress has been made over the course of the last two or three white people, a potential Ebola vaccination is still many more white people off. “We are confident, however, that with each passing white person, we’re moving closer to an eventual antigenic that will prevent and possibly even eradicate the disease.” Wensmann said he remained optimistic that the vaccine would not take considerably longer than his prediction, as waiting more than 50 white people for an effective preventative measure was something the world would simply not allow.

 

[Randolphkeys]

So now Mexico is being equated with the poorest areas of West Africa? LOL, Right Wing.

The "experimental vaccine" the doctor was given is exactly what they were giving out in West Africa, got it on a reliable source.

 

[Maximus]

So now Mexico is being equated with the poorest areas of West Africa? LOL, Right Wing.

I'm assuming this was directed at me. I just don't understand it. I wasn't equating Mexico to West Africa.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I'm assuming this was directed at me. I just don't understand it. I wasn't equating Mexico to West Africa.

Your post confused me, and I was assuming you got that train of thought off a bad cable news station... which I'm not about to read/watch.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

So now Mexico is being equated with the poorest areas of West Africa? LOL, Right Wing.

The "experimental vaccine" the doctor was given is exactly what they were giving out in West Africa, got it on a reliable source.

That makes a nice STFU up the "white people" joke.

 

[Maximus]

Your post confused me, and I was assuming you got that train of thought off a bad cable news station... which I'm not about to read/watch.

What train of thought??? No clue where you are going with this. I also had no cable for last 2 weeks.

 

[Randolphkeys]

So impoverished people in West Africa with Ebola are like, "Let's fuck with America!"

They have a virus eating their skin, but priorities being what they are, they book an economy flight to Mexico.

At this point, virus coursing through their veins like zombie juice, they meet up with their carefully booked Ebola Coyote.

Ebola Coyote is like, "Don't breathe too much on Pedro and Jorge. Save your Ebola Zombie breath for Max and those American gringos! And you owe me gas money DeSagana."

 

[UncleDrew]

That is some scary shit..no offense to those who have it from going there...but...please stay there if you are infected. We don't need that coming around in the United States.

However, I do feel bad for those who got infected..and my apologies.

 

[The Oi]

World is in need of a good pandemic right now. Something that could wipe out about half of us (excluding everyone on this board except a couple of you).

 

[Adam]

World is in need of a good pandemic right now. Something that could wipe out about half of us (excluding everyone on this board except a couple of you).

amen brother and when I say this to a class of 12 year old people complain. Off to go check canned provisions in my bunker.

 

[Maximus]

So impoverished people in West Africa with Ebola are like, "Let's fuck with America!"

They have a virus eating their skin, but priorities being what they are, they book an economy flight to Mexico.

At this point, virus coursing through their veins like zombie juice, they meet up with their carefully booked Ebola Coyote.

Ebola Coyote is like, "Don't breathe too much on Pedro and Jorge. Save your Ebola Zombie breath for Max and those American gringos! And you owe me gas money DeSagana."

:chuckles:


On a serious note, no i don't think they would come here to fuck with America. But I think if this thing really breaks out and 1000's or 10's of thousands people start dying, some will make a break for it and the US would be a nice destination. Again, people already are coming here from that region every month without being motivated by the outbreak.

They have a virus eating their skin, but priorities being what they are, they book an economy flight to Mexico.

It has a 21 day incubation period before there are any signs of symptoms. That's the real problem with this thing. People could already be here for a couple weeks from flights or from crossing the border before containment measures are even put into place.

 

[The Oi]

If any existing disease truly had the potential to wipe out a huge percentage of the population in a hurry, what would it be? Would it be ebola?

 

[Nicky]

If any existing disease truly had the potential to wipe out a huge percentage of the population in a hurry, what would it be? Would it be ebola?

That Matt Damon movie where everyone was infected from a pig in Japan or something. Wasn't like Ebola? It's scary to think how someone unknowingly is a carrier of something like that.

Male survivors may be able to transmit the disease via semen for nearly two months.

 

[Marcus]

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A person in Columbus has been tested for Ebola after a visit to South Africa, Columbus news station 10News reports.

Columbus Public Health confirmed the information to the station Tuesday. The organization is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ebola, which has killed nearly 900 so far in West Africa, is spread by close contact with blood and other bodily fluids.

Two American aid workers from West Africa have been flown to Atlanta to receive treatment for the virus.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/state/one-in-columbus-tested-for-ebola-after-visit-to-west-africa

Just sounds like a precautionary thing, but even still...

To address the semen transmission point that someone brought up before, it can be transmitted via semen for approximately 50 days.

For those of you who brought up the viability of pigs as possible hosts for Ebola:

When news broke that the Ebola virus had resurfaced in Uganda, investigators in Canada were making headlines of their own with research indicating the deadly virus may spread between species, through the air.

The team, comprised of researchers from the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, the University of Manitoba, and the Public Health Agency of Canada, observed transmission of Ebola from pigs to monkeys. They first inoculated a number of piglets with the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus. Ebola-Zaire is the deadliest strain, with mortality rates up to 90 percent. The piglets were then placed in a room with four cynomolgus macaques, a species of monkey commonly used in laboratories. The animals were separated by wire cages to prevent direct contact between the species.

Within a few days, the inoculated piglets showed clinical signs of infection indicative of Ebola infection. In pigs, Ebola generally causes respiratory illness and increased temperature. Nine days after infection, all piglets appeared to have recovered from the disease.

Within eight days of exposure, two of the four monkeys showed signs of Ebola infection. Four days later, the remaining two monkeys were sick too. It is possible that the first two monkeys infected the other two, but transmission between non-human primates has never before been observed in a lab setting.

While the study provided evidence that transmission of Ebola between species is possible, researchers still cannot say for certain how that transmission actually occurred. There are three likely candidates for the route of transmission: airborne, droplet, or fomites.

Airborne and droplet transmission both technically travel through the air to infect others; the difference lies in the size of the infective particles. Smaller droplets persist in the air longer and are able to travel farther- these droplets are truly “airborne.” Larger droplets can neither travel as far nor persist for very long. Fomites are inanimate objects that can transmit disease if they are contaminated with infectious agents. In this study, a monkey’s cage could have been contaminated when workers were cleaning a nearby pig cage. If the monkey touched the contaminated cage surface and then its mouth or eyes, it could have been infected.

Author Dr. Gary Kobinger suspects that the virus is transmitted through droplets, not fomites, because evidence of infection in the lungs of the monkeys indicated that the virus was inhaled.

What do these findings mean? First and foremost, Ebola is not suddenly an airborne disease. As expert commentators at ProMED stated, the experiments “demonstrate the susceptibility of pigs to Zaire Ebolavirus and that the virus from infected pigs can be transmitted to macaques under experimental conditions… they fall short of establishing that this is a normal route of transmission in the natural environment.” Furthermore, because human Ebola outbreaks have historically been locally contained, it is unlikely that Ebola can spread between humans via airborne transmission.

However, the study does raise the possibility that pigs are a host for Ebola. If this proves to be true in the wild, there are direct ramifications for prevention and control measures. It is still unclear what role pigs play in the chain of transmission. To continue work on answering this question, the team plans to take samples from pigs in areas known to have recently experienced Ebola outbreaks.

The Disease Daily has previously reported on Dr. Kobinger’s work on the Ebola vaccine.

http://healthmap.org/site/diseasedaily/article/pigs-monkeys-ebola-goes-airborne-112112

Important to note that although there exists somewhat of a possibility of airborne transmission across species, the chances of that are actually very low and are not something that we as humans have to be concerned about as of right now.

I think one of the key things is that animals themselves can contract the virus by eating food that has been contaminated by fruit bats, the natural carriers of Ebola.

Here is the World Health Organization's fact sheet on Ebola:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/