WHO approved the use of experimental drug ZMapp to fight Ebola Virus

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on 12 August 2014 sanctioned the use of experimental drug ZMapp to fight against Ebola as the death toll increased.

The declaration of WHO came after a US company Mapp Biopharmaceutical supplied ZMapp to two US doctors Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebo who got affected with the Ebola disease while treating Ebola affected patients in Liberia. It showed some positive effects in saving the lives of Ebola-affected people.

After considering all the aspects, the panel of WHO reached a consensus that the experimental drugs should be used with all transparency including  aspects of care, freedom of choice, confidentiality, respect for the person and preservation of dignity. Doctors would not use ZMapp without permission of the patients.

ZMapp
The current outbreak of Ebola is described as the worst since the discovery of Ebola Virus. There is no available cure for Ebola currently. Mapp Biopharmaceutical in the first week of August 2014, made available the drug ZMapp to two US doctors Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebo who got affected with the Ebola disease while treating Ebola affected patients in Liberia and then to Spain Government for treating Ebola-affected patient.

The drug uses a new method of passive immunization to treat Ebola infection by inserting genetically altered Ebola protein into tobacco leaves. However, ZMapp has been tested only on monkeys so far and it was to be tested on healthy human volunteers in 2015. The sudden outbreak of Ebola speeded up the process.

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WHO declared Ebola as Global Health Emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Ebola as Global Health Emergency. The decision was taken after a two-day emergency session held in Geneva. During the two-day session, WHO appealed for global aid to help afflicted countries.

Ebola has claimed at least 932 lives and infected more than 1700 people since outbreak of the virus in Guinea in early 2014.

States of emergency has been declared across Ebola affected West African nations, including Libera, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

About Ebola disease

• Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe human disease.

• Ebola Virus was formerly known by the name Ebola haemorrhagic fever.

• EVD outbreak is generally witnessed in villages of Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.

• The virus spreads through contact with an infected animal mainly Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family.

• Person suffering from Ebola Virus develops symptoms after two to three days of contracting with virus. These symptoms can be fever, sore throat, headache, nausea, muscle pain. In worst of cases, person may get affected with Diarrhoea along with poor functioning of liver and kidneys.

• Ebola-infected patients require thorough care. No specific treatment or medications are available to cure such patients.

• Ebola Virus was first witnessed in 1976 when it infected people of Nzara, Sudan, and Yambuku in Democratic Republic of Congo. Yambuku is a village near the Ebola River. The disease Ebola Virus took its name from that river.

• Professor Peter Piot of London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine discovered the Ebola virus in 1976 from a blood sample of a dying Catholic nun in Congo.

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