Ebola Update: Virus Spreads to Senegal and Experimental Drug Proves Successful
The virus continues to spread. Ebola has now reached Senegal, making it the fifth country in Africa to report a case of the deadly virus. However, the experimental drug currently being used to treat select cases of Ebola may help alleviate the situation.
On Friday, the government of Senegal announced that it had one confirmed case of Ebola, according to the Los Angeles Times. Health Minister Awa Marie Coll-Seck informed the press that the patient is a university student from Guinea.
Guinea informed Senegal a patient had left his hospital three weeks ago and was believed to have crossed into Senegal, Coll-Seck said. He reached the capital of Dakar where he checked into a hospital. The health minister called for calm and for everyone to adhere to strict hygiene standards.
Reuters explains that Senegal is a regional hub for U.N. organizations as well as other aid agencies. However, the nation decided, in an attempt to prevent the disease's spread into its borders, to close all land borders with Guinea and cancel all flights to Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
This move prevents much needed supplies from reaching the Ebola-stricken countries, according to the Los Angeles Times. Nonetheless, Reuters adds that Senegal has barred U.N. flights headed to the three nations hit hardest from landing on Senegal.
The spread of Ebola to a fifth country happened on the same day that the Liberian government decided to lift the quarantine on the Monrovia slum of West Point, according to the New York Times.
Residents rejoiced after the news that the military-enforced quarantine had been lifted. The quarantine had led to violent conflicts between residents and security officials, leading to the death of a teenage boy.
Liberians are also happy because one of the infected health workers given the experimental drug ZMapp has recovered and will be released from the hospital on Saturday, according to the Associated Press. In an interview with the AP, the physician's assistant Kyndy Kobbah asked the manufacturer of ZMapp to send more.
"They need to make more Zmapp and send to us," she said in the interview. However, the AP explains doctors are not certain whether those given the drug have recovered because of it or on their own.
A good sign is that in the only clinical trial performed for the drug, ZMapp, cured all the Ebola-infected monkeys regardless of the disease's progression, reports the BBC. Whether this can be replicated in humans remains to be seen.
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