As YU students were going about their daily lives shuttling up and down town, going to events, participating in clubs, studying for midterms and anxiously awaiting Pesach break this past March, a deadly virus began spreading thousands of miles away in West Africa. Suddenly, hundreds of people were infected and dying. The virus could not be contained, no one was immune, and, worst of all, there was no cure. This is Ebola.
For those of you who were busy with internships and seven classes, here’s a recap: Ebola (a.k.a Ebola hemorrhagic fever) is a deadly virus that damages the immune system and organs as it spreads throughout the body. At present, there are five identified strains of Ebola that can affect both humans and animals.
Ebola causes levels of blood-clotting cells to drop, which leads to severe bleeding inside and outside the body. The virus is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids from, or objects that have been contaminated by, infected animals or people. Symptoms include fever, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and unexplained bleeding or bruising. Researchers believe the virus is animal-borne and suspect that bats are the most likely carrier and infector.
Ebola was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although Ebola outbreaks have occurred sporadically throughout the years in Africa, there has never been an outbreak this serious or widespread. An estimated 6,000 people have been infected with the virus and about 2,700 people have died predominantly in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.
Aside from a global humanitarian concern, American’s may feel detached from the threat of Ebola due to its isolated presence overseas. But last April, two infected Americans in Africa were brought back to America for treatment. With the help of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these two patients were brought to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on a modified gulfstream G3 plane, owned by Phoenix Air, one of the largest air ambulances in the world. The plane was converted into a mini ICU with everything that flight physicians and nurses could need for the journey from Liberia to Atlanta. Once the patients were delivered, the plane was immediately decontaminated and all the medical materials were incinerated.
Many Americans were enraged that the CDC would bring the virus into the US rather than treat the patients in West Africa. But the CDC ensured that with meticulous attention to cleanliness, the virus could be contained. Whether or not the public approved, there were sick patients in critical need of medical care, and the CDC was intent on curing them.
After three weeks of care and a combined million-dollar expenditure, the two initially undisclosed patients, Dr. Kent Brantly and missionary Nancy Writebol, were cured of Ebola with ZMapp, an experimental drug made up of monoclonal antibodies that recognize and neutralize specific viruses like Ebola. The recovered patients were released from the hospital and free to go home to their families.
In a perfect world, we would be able to mass produce ZMapp and distribute it all throughout West Africa. Yet there are ethical, financial, and logistical problems that exist as barriers preventing widespread distribution. For instance, is it okay to mass distribute experimental drugs that have not been fully tested on humans for safety or effectiveness? It is also expensive to produce these drugs that, if available to the public, are not guaranteed to heal anyone, especially because we are dealing with a mutable virus that comes in at least five different strains.
Although Brantly and Writebol were cured using ZMapp, they were cured in Emory, one of America’s best medical facilities, rather than a makeshift clinic in the middle of West Africa. And they were treated immediately after contracting the virus, which usually takes a few days to really replicate, spread, and cause damage to cells and organs. Most importantly, they were healthy before being infected, unlike the thousands of other Africans who suffer from malnutrition and various other conditions, such as immunodeficiency.
The virus is still spreading in West Africa. The CDC predicts that Ebola will infect an additional 20,000 people before it can be contained. And that is not the worst of it. Many of the inhabitants believe that the medical staff is to blame for the spread of the virus and have started attacking and killing those in West Africa offering aid.
So what can be done to help?
Within the next month, America will be deploying thousands of troops to help set up facilities and form training teams to help treat victims. Other countries are also deploying thousands of medical staff to join in the relief effort. People are donating money for medical supplies, medical professionals are enlisting their services, hospitals around the world are preparing themselves for a possible outbreak and researchers are looking for a cure.