Experimental Serum May Have Been Key to Ebola Recovery
TUESDAY, Aug. 5, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental serum never before tried in people may have been pivotal in helping treat two Americans stricken with Ebola, according to media reports.
In the cases of the two infected American physicians, Drs. Writebol and Brantly, an unnamed source told CNN that the U.S. National Institutes of Health contacted Samaritan's Purse, the agency Brantly works for, and offered three vials of an experimental treatment called ZMapp for use in both patients. According to the CNN source, Zmapp is a drug being developed by San Diego-based biotech company Mapp Biopharmaceutical. Although the medicine has shown promise in trials involving monkeys, it has never been tested in humans. In the primate trials, four monkeys infected with Ebola survived after getting Zmapp within 24 hours of infection, and two of four other monkeys survived after getting the serum within 48 hours of infection.
Just one hour after receiving intravenous delivery of Zmapp, Brantly made a dramatic recovery, CNN reported. He began breathing on his own and a rash that had once covered his trunk faded away. By the next morning Brantly could take a shower on his own prior to his evacuation to the United States. Writebol also received Zmapp. Her response after the first dose was not as dramatic as that seen in Brantly, but a second dose was given on Sunday and Writebol has made a significant recovery, CNN said.
Experts note that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will allow such access in emergency situations based on "compassionate use," although the speed at which the treatment made it to the two patients is remarkable. Speaking Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., agreed that Brantly "seems to be improved from the reports we got earlier."
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