Ebola Viral Disease in West Africa: A Threat to Global Health, Economy and Political Stability

Omoleke, Semeeh Akinwale; Mohammed, Ibrahim; Saidu, Yauba

The current West African outbreak has accelerated the development of the disease control tools against Ebola. In August 2014, Qiu and colleagues reported in Nature that a cocktail of three monoclonal antibodies (ZMapp) salvaged all monkeys at an advanced stage of the disease. 92 Prior to the release of these exciting results, Mapp Biopharmaceuticals had offered the product for compassionate use. At the time of writing, seven people had received the experimental serum, including two Americans, one Spaniard, 3 Liberians and one Briton. Five of these patients survived but it remains debatable whether the observed survival was due to the serum or the supportive treatment that the patients received. Compassionate use of the product has also generated numerous ethical questions that led the world governing health body to convene a panel of experts to review the ethics of the approach. 93 The debate also highlights a low level of awareness of major regulatory guidelines that are intended to accelerate development of life saving interventions against serious/life-threatening conditions. 94 In addition to ZMapp, a range of interventions are being evaluated as potential treatment for Ebola. [95] [96] [97] [98] [99] [100] [101] These interventions are summarized in Table 3 .