MOSCOW, August 4 (RIA Novosti) – US missionary workers who contracted Ebola while fighting the deadly virus in Liberia were treated with an experimental serum that most likely saved their lives, CNN reported Monday citing a source familiar with details of the treatment.
US doctor Kent Brantly working with the aid organization Samaritan's Purse first showed the symptoms of the disease on July 22. Three days later, his colleague Nancy Writebol was also diagnosed with the infection.
According to CNN, the National Institutes of Health contacted the organization and offered the patients an experimental treatment which has never been tried on humans but showed positive results in experiments with monkeys. The medicine, known as ZMapp was manufactured by the biotech firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc.
After the patients granted their consent, the manufacturer sent “three top secret, experimental vials stored at subzero temperatures” to Liberia.
Earlier on Sunday, top U.S. health official Dr. Tom Frieden announced that Brantly, who returned to the United States for treatment, showed signs of improvement. Writebol whose response to the medicine was initially not as remarkable, according to CNN, was given a second dose “which resulted in significant improvement.” Writebol is expected to arrive in the United States next week.
CNN said that Mapp Biopharmaceutical was awarded with “additional funding” for “promising results” on July 30.
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is one of the deadliest viruses known to mankind. The virus is transmitted by direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person. The UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) put the number of people who contracted the disease since February at 1,440. The Ebola death toll in West Africa currently stands at 826.
