Ebola “Window of Opportunity” About to Close

Originally Published in The Minaret
Opinion

In recent months, news of the Ebola virus has spread quickly– much like the disease. While the headlines have made their way around the world, the virus is currently contained to Africa. However, Dr. Tom Frieden of the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has declared that the “window of opportunity” to contain the virus in West Africa is closing rapidly, and something monumental needs to be done before it’s too late. 

Ebola attacks the body and does not respond to antibiotics like other non-viral diseases would. This is a major concern with Ebola because as of right now there is no recognized cure. The virus “has a mortality rate usually between 50 and 90 percent,” according to University of Tampa Associate Professor of microbiology Dr. Ann Williams. People become infected with viruses all the time, such as the common cold, but you don’t see a 90 percent death rate from it; Ebola is clearly in a league of its own.
Williams also mentioned that the effect of the virus largely depends upon the strain. This then begs the question of which strain we are currently dealing with, which has killed approximately 1,900 of the 3,500 Ebola patients, according to BBC. It is the most deadly form of the virus, the Zaire strain, and has a firm grip on West Africa, spreading more every day.

The most intriguing aspect of Ebola research, currently, is perhaps the treatment. To date, Ebola patients have only been given treatment to help alleviate symptoms, and the immune system had been relied upon to do the rest, according to CNN. That is not an effective treatment plan considering the high mortality rate. This method of treatment amounts to the same level of idiocy as putting a bandage over a bullet wound and calling it a day. In hopes of ditching this illogical method, new experimental drugs and the potential development of a vaccine have begun. These new medications may actually be the only hope to contain its spread, according to CNN.

An American biotechnology firm based in San Diego developed a drug called ZMapp to treat Ebola. While it is still considered an experimental treatment, it appears to have aided in the recovery of the ill Americans, doctors Rick Sacra and Ken Brantly, as well as missionary Nancy Writebol, The Los Angeles Times reported. The medication’s preliminary use is risky considering it has not been used in previous Ebola outbreaks, but it needs to happen. The drug has also been shipped to various locations in the area primarily affected by this outbreak in hopes of combating the disease, according to CNN. It is crucial that the drug be shipped to the area most affected to prevent further unnecessary death, because the drug appears to be effective in interfering with the virus.

It is unfortunate that this outbreak of the Ebola virus had to become an epidemic before the need for a vaccine was set in motion, but at this stage we can only work towards a solution to the already uncontrolled problem. That is where pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline comes into play. The company is set to begin human trials of the vaccine in the following week, according to CNN. They should have started years ago before an outbreak, but their work will hopefully prevent more death in Africa.

Now, nearly everyone has heard of animal testing for something like this, but to test on humans? It seems downright ludicrous…at first. Then, we discover that the drug has already been tested on chimpanzees, one of the closest human relatives biologically, NBC reported. Whatever your feelings about animal testing may be, it does certainly come as a relief that humans are not the initial guinea pigs of a vaccine against such a lethal virus. Even still, Dr. Williams says that this “altered version of the Ebola” in the vaccine will be used as a preventative measure if effective during the trial phase. It will likely be distributed like an influenza vaccine in high risk areas. Williams says it will be used to promote “immunity to the virus” and cannot infect those that receive it with Ebola. Therefore, it is completely ethical to test the vaccine on people, especially those who have a high risk of Ebola exposure.

So many questions still remain unanswered: for example, how is the disease spreading so rapidly? Could it be airborne? Is it mutating? In its current state, CDC has said Ebola transmits “from direct contact with the blood and/or secretions of an infected person,” not through the air. However, the American doctors Brantly and Sacra, and missionary Writebol, still became ill while volunteering in West Africa, even while wearing medical equipment regarded by the CDC as satisfactory. They were brought back into the US for treatment which was risky, but it was, and is, essential that they receive the best available medical care. If only the African patients could be getting the same level of treatment, the death statistics might be significantly lower.

Why did Brantly, Writebol and Sacra contract the Ebola virus while they were supposedly properly protected? This may be because Ebola is considered a hemorrhagic disease, meaning infected individuals bleed from every orifice of their bodies. It is quite possibly the worst way to die or to watch someone die. In these cases, transmission is understandably much more likely because of unintentional exposure to bodily fluids. This is often exacerbated by lack of funding which can prevent the use of ideal precautionary measures.
Ebola is a major issue today, but ideally with this vaccine and drugs like ZMapp, it will be all but forgotten in the years to come. To procure an Ebola-free future, however, it will take human trials and experimental drugs to contain and crush the horrific and even terrifying monster that Ebola is today.