A Mysterious Serum Saves Two Americans Infected by Ebola Virus

Is the treatment for Ebola finally ready? Two Americans were saved from the virus after having received injections of a mysterious serum.

A serum has saved two Americans, a doctor named Kent Brantly and his assistant Nancy Writebol, who had contracted the Ebola virus during a mission to Liberia. After having received several injections, the two “miracle patients” started showing astonishing signs of remission. “Likely saved,” these last patients were hospitalized today in the U.S. and were in a stable state, the American channel CNN said.

This mysterious serum, called “MZapp,” is an antibody developed from the cells of infected mice. It was conceived by the biotechnological firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., based in San Diego, California.

The two Americans, who work for the charity Christian organization Samaritan’s Purse in Liberia, were in a critical state before receiving this experimental treatment that had only been tested on monkeys. By the ninth day of his illness, Kent Brantly thought he was going to die, CNN says. Shortly after receiving the first injection, the doctor called his wife to tell her goodbye. The next morning, after being treated, he was able to get up and take a shower. His assistant received an injection after him, and she also showed clear signs of recovery, if less spectacularly.

A Remedy for Africa or for America?

After the announcement of this information, the question posed by numerous West Africans is whether or not this serum will be used in Africa — or does one have to be an American citizen to benefit from it? Whichever it is, this serum, until now tested on animals, is not new. These tests have already been the subject of publication in the Annals of the American Academy of Sciences in 2012, Le Figaro indicated in an article from July. If administrated in the 48 hours following infection, it allows the survival of two-thirds of animals. For humans, it seems that the serum has that effect, even nine days later, as is the case for Brantly and his assistant.

Why did we have to wait for Americans to become infected to test the serum on humans? So far, the epidemic has caused 887 deaths in West Africa since the beginning of the year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).