It's a story that could have come from
a cinematic medical thriller: Two American
missionary workers contract Ebola. Their situation
is dire. Three vials containing a highly
experimental drug are flown into Liberia in a last-
ditch effort to save them.

And the drug flown in last week appears to have
worked, according to a source familiar with details
of the treatment.

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 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.

As the Americans' conditions worsened,
Samaritan's Purse reached out to a National
Institutes of Health scientist who was on the
ground in West Africa, according to the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"The scientist was able to informally answer some
questions and referred them to appropriate
company contacts to pursue their interest in
obtaining the experimental product," NIAID said.

The experimental drug, known as ZMapp, was
developed by the biotech firm Mapp
Biopharmaceutical Inc., which is based in San
Diego. The patients were told that the 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 Ebola virus causes viral hemorrhagic fever,
which refers to a group of viruses that affect
multiple organ systems in the body and are often
accompanied by bleeding.

Early symptoms include sudden onset of fever,
weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore
throat. They later progress to vomiting, diarrhea,
impaired kidney and liver function -- and
sometimes internal and external bleeding.

The ZMapp vials, stored at subzero temperatures,
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.

The process by which the medication was made
available to Brantly and Writebol is highly
unusual.

World Health Organization spokesman Gregory
Hartl cautioned that health authorities "cannot
start using untested drugs in the middle of an
outbreak, for various reasons."

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.

Getting approval for compassionate use is often
long and laborious, but in the case of Brantly and
Writebol, they received the medication within
seven to 10 days of their exposure to the Ebola
virus.

On July 30, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency,
an arm of the military responsible for any
chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and
high-yield explosive threats, allotted additional
funding to MAPP Biopharmaceutical due to
"promising results."

America sha! e fit be say na dem sef create all dis ebola tinz just to make us poorer!
They sell arms to terrorists n later help govt ‘flush' them out!
Na play o! **dreamt n saw maself @newyork city!

I hope this is a permanent cure. that means big bucks for mapp pharmaceuticals.

hope it works

i am suspecting somebody somewhere.

The drugs should be made available in large quantity & sent to West Africa.

I knew it i knew dey would treat those guys..
Erm erm *clears throat* now that there is a cure fr Ebola, wat happens to my kolanut business?

I never believed conspiracy theorists, but this sounds like the makings of a desperate company. It's funny how one company can come up with something close to a cure so quick. Makes one wonder if they did not manufacture the virus.