The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is out of control and the number of deaths and infections continues to rise. Due to the lack of vaccines and effective therapeutic drugs, isolation has become the most effective method to prevent the spread of the virus.
As a result, most flights in West Africa have been grounded, travel bans have been issued, ports in various countries facing West Africa have been closed, and strict investigations have been carried out.
Against this background of extreme panic, two days ago, the United States decided to take two Americans infected with Ebola virus in West Africa back to Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta for treatment, taking the initiative to bring the ghostly Ebola virus from the African continent to the United States mainland.
Some people in the United States have no less drive to tap the keyboard and spit on the Internet than the online mob here. Although the U.S. Government and CDC are called “crazy”, the pressure of netizens cannot change their decision. Only in such public health incidents can professionals have the ability and power to make the final judgment.
Our people, shrouded in smog, cast envious eyes across the Pacific Ocean: American citizens are good. The country is willing to take such great risks and invest such great resources to save two lives. Obviously, everyone is too emotional. The US emperor is not just a big country and full of patriotism.
In the layout of dealing with terrorists, The United States is already the country with the strongest strength to deal with biological and chemical weapons in the world, and has the largest number of biological laboratories and wards with level 4 safety. Look at the movie “Horror Zone” released in the United States 20 years ago and you will know that people are multi-professional in this field. Dare to take infected persons back to China is not impulsive, but professional accumulation.
Today, CNN’s Breaking News makes the world more impressed by Americans: Dr. Kent Brantley and Dr. Nancy Whitebold, who are infected with Ebola virus, have improved after receiving new drugs developed by an American pharmaceutical company. Before that, Dr. Brantley’s condition had deteriorated and he had difficulty breathing.
The drug called ZMapp is a monoclonal antibody. Before this use, only 9 monkeys have been tested in very limited ways.
ZMapp needs to be cryopreserved during transportation, It takes 8 to 10 hours to melt naturally before use. According to the plan, Dr. Whitebold was originally planned to try the medicine first to observe the effect, but Dr. Brantley suddenly deteriorated and suffered from dyspnea, so the medicine melted by Dr. Whitebold was temporarily given to Dr. Brantley urgently.
One hour later, Dr. Brantley’s symptoms improved significantly, breathing smoothly, the rash on his trunk subsided, and he could even take a shower the next day. Dr. Whitebold also received ZMapp treatment twice afterwards, and also showed significant relief of symptoms.
Obviously, this is not a regular clinical trial, It was an [unconventional test] jointly decided by FDA, the US National Institutes of Health, Mapp Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (ZMapp producer) and the Defense Threat Mitigation Committee, a branch of the US military responsible for weapons of mass destruction. Of course, the two subjects also signed informed consent and joined the test, acting as [mouse test].
In a country with the strictest new drug research and development policies in the world, we should give them two compliments: innovation and courage.
The special background, the special process, the accumulation of science and technology and the decisive decision make up the situation that seems quite dramatic but optimistic at present. If it is not for this special situation, the research and development of new drugs must follow the very strict procedures of FDA, then the ZMapp test may still be far away.
Of course, such stories will not change FDA’s strict control over the development and marketing of new drugs. This extra-process flexibility and harvest is only established under the above-mentioned special background and has no universal significance. At the beginning of this year, FDA stopped the research on Ebola virus treatment drugs initiated by the US Department of Defense with a grant of 140 million US dollars. (Pentagon pays, do you know the history of Ebola virus)
In addition, it is far from time to draw a conclusion on the new drug ZMapp. Even if only two clinical cases are still under observation, the final results still need time to judge, let alone more clinical data to support. The long-term impact and safety of monoclonal antibodies, a major drug category, on human beings still need time to evaluate.
Therefore, Ebola infected people in West Africa want to benefit from new drugs in the United States and long long way to go.
The following picture is a modified plane used to transport Dr. Whitebold back to China and the transfer process.
