Since its outbreak last March in Guinea, the virus has infected 1,848 people and killed 1,013, including 61 doctors making this the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history.
“Untested drugs can be used to treat patients infected with the Ebola virus,” WHO said yesterday.
Meanwhile, the United States, US Food and Drug Administration, has approved Liberia’s request for access to ZMapp, which was created by the San Diego-based biotech firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. Sample doses of the medicine will be sent to Liberia this week to treat doctors who have contracted the virus, the Liberian government said.
The statement was made after its medical experts met in Switzerland on Monday to discuss the issue.
But officials warned there were limited supplies of potential treatments.
Dr Marie-Paule Kieny from the WHO said that there has been “unanimous agreement” among experts on the trial drug.
WHO said where experimental treatments are used there must be informed consent and the results of the treatment collected and shared.
In a statement, it said: “In the particular circumstances of this outbreak, and provided certain conditions are met, the panel reached consensus that it is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects, as potential treatment or prevention.”
But the organisation conceded there were still many questions to be answered including how data could be gathered effectively while the focus remained on providing good medical care.
It was also unclear where the funding for the treatment would come from.
Last week the WHO declared the Ebola outbreak was a global health emergency.
Since the current Ebola epidemic was declared in Guinea in March, the disease has spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
The Liberian statement, posted on the presidency’s website, said it was also receiving an experimental treatment from the World Health Organization. It was unclear if this was also referring to ZMapp or another treatment.
Also yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan called for strategic collaboration among West African countries to control and contain the Ebola Virus Disease in order to check its spread.
President Jonathan stated this yesterday when he received in audience the new Ambassador of Guinea to Nigeria, Mr. Gaoussou Toure who presented his letters of credence to the President at the State House, Abuja.
President Jonathan commended the containment measures so far taken by West African countries that have been affected by the disease stressing that more concerted intra-regional cooperation and action needs to be developed.
“A problem that affects one of us affects all. We may need to come together as a region to strengthen our containment measures. I am however pleased that serious measures are being taken to control the spread of the disease,” President Jonathan said.
Ambassador Gaoussou Toure had earlier thanked President Jonathan for the financial assistance given to Guinea by Nigeria for tackling the (Ebola) disease and assured him that Guinea is deploying containment measures to combat the outbreak. He reaffirmed Guinea’s commitment to strengthening the country’s cordial relations with Nigeria.
At separate audiences after receiving letters of credence from the new Ambassador of Germany, Michael Peter Zenner and Torben Antonio Gettermann, the new Ambassador of Denmark, President Jonathan stated that the days of electoral violence in Nigeria were over and that the 2015 general elections would be free and fair.
President Jonathan called on the two Ambassadors to use their positions to strengthen the existing trade relations between their countries and Nigeria.
Source: Nigerian Pilot
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