According to CNN, Three vials
containing an experimental drug 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. The drug
appears to have worked, sources say. Dr. Kent Brantly’s and Nancy
Writebol’s conditions significantly improved after receiving the
medication, sources say. Brantly was able to walk into Emory University Hospital
in Atlanta after being evacuated to the United States last week, and
Writebol is expected to arrive in Atlanta on Tuesday. On July 22,
Brantly woke up feeling feverish. Fearing the worst, Brantly immediately
isolated himself. 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.
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., which is based in San Diego. 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 other 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 and gave informed consent,
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 ZMapp vials reached the hospital in Liberia where Brantly and Writebol were being treated Thursday morning. Doctors
were instructed to allow the serum 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.
The process by which the medication was
made available to Brantly and Writebol is highly unusual. 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. It may have been given under the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration’s “compassionate use” regulation, which allows access to
investigational drugs outside clinical trials.
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