“ZMapp: The Ebola Cure” by Amity C-S.
Empty, puffy eyes sit wide open as the baby’s small body begins to shake. Across the village, a mother is sobbing over her child’s corpse being wrapped in cloth for burial. At the cemetery, helpless mothers are being escorted from their children’s funerals. West African countries such as Sierra Leone and Guinea have been hit hard by Ebola, a virus that is spread from animals to humans and can only be spread through bodily fluids. This disease is also referred to as the “hemorrhagic fever,” causing pain in the body, gastrointestinal problems, redness of the eyes, headaches, sore throat, mental confusion, red spots on the skin, and death.
Although there is no definite cure, there is a drug that has been created to stop Ebola, called ZMapp, an idea from a San Diego company called Mapp Biopharmaceutical. The drug was created by a Canadian Microbiology lab funded by the Canadian government and takes 6 weeks to make from tobacco. It goes through a separate process to create what could be known as the “Ebola cure”. The creation of ZMapp uses 6000 lbs of new tobacco for each vial of the drug. The tobacco is grown for 24 days, then harvested and pressed into a liquid, creating antibodies that are used multiple times. In 2014, ZMapp cured the first Ebola victim, American doctor Dr.Kent Brantly, who was serving as a doctor for Ebola victims in Sierra Leone when he contracted the disease. Before ZMapp cured Dr. Brantly, there was only enough ZMapp to start a small trial in Liberia.
Dr. Brantley experienced side effects such as his body shaking violently and worsening breathing, but after the first hour, his breathing improved, and the shaking stopped. After 2-3 hours on the drug, he "was able to get up and walk to the bathroom" (Simon).
Although ZMapp has cured patients, it isn’t being widely produced because it is made by a workforce of nine, and the process takes six weeks. ZMapp still needs a randomized trial to make sure it fully works. The drug is still being used as a temporary vaccine for the disease in certain countries as scientists try to figure out more ways to mass produce it.
Works Cited
Simon, Bob. "ZMapp and the Fight against Ebola." CBSNews. CBS Interactive,
15 Feb. 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
