*A panel of medical ethics experts from the World Health Organisation has ruled that it is ethical to offer unproven drugs or vaccines as potential treatments or preventions for the Ebola virus.
LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization on Friday declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency that requires an extraordinary response to stop its spread. www.who.int
"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," the UN's health agency said in a statement.
WHO released death toll figures last night, calling the outbreak of the virus a global public health emergency.
To date, 1,013 have died from Ebola and another 1,848 are infected.
The fatalities include 52 deaths recorded between 7 and 9 August in the four West African countries at the centre of the epidemic - Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
Medical experts from around the world took part in WHO-hosted discussions yesterday to draft guidelines for using non-authorised medicines in emergencies such as Ebola.
"Ethical criteria must guide the provision of such interventions," the panel found, stressing the need for "transparency about all aspects of care ... respect for the person, preservation of dignity and involvement of the community".
Commenting on the ruling of the WHO panel Professor Jonathan Ball, from the University of Nottingham, said the expert's findings did not come as a "huge surprise".
But he warned that using experimental therapies was not without risks, including that of generating "mistrust" among African countries.
"You certainly cannot say definitively that something which works and is safe in animals will work and be safe in humans; I think there is a risk," he said.
"However, when you weigh that against the fact that there is 60% chance that you will die of Ebola infection, you can understand how they reached the decision."
Meanwhile, the Liberian presidency has said US authorities have approved a request from Liberia's government to send sample doses of the experimental ZMapp drug to treat Liberian doctors infected with Ebola.
It said the drug would be delivered this week by a US government representative.
However, a representative for the US Health and Human Services (HHS) Department said US authorities had simply assisted in connecting the Liberian government with the drug's manufacturer.
"Since the drug was shipped for use outside the US, appropriate export procedures had to be followed," the HHS representative said, adding the drug company had worked directly with the Liberian government.
Priest dies in Madrid hospital from Ebola virus
An elderly Spanish priest who was being treated for the virus with ZMapp died in a hospital in Madrid, five days after being evacuated from Liberia.
The 75-year-old Catholic priest, Miguel Pajares, was being treated in Spain after being flown to Madrid on 7 August.
He contracted the virus at the Saint Joseph Hospital in the Liberian capital Monrovia where he worked.
Two Americans also being treated with ZMapp are reportedly showing signs of improvement.
Keywords: ebola
LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization on Friday declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency that requires an extraordinary response to stop its spread. www.who.int
The WHO chief, Dr. Margaret Chan, said the announcement is "a clear call for international solidarity" although she acknowledged that many countries would probably not have any Ebola cases.
"Countries affected to date simply do not have the capacity to manage an outbreak of this size and complexity on their own," Chan said at a news conference in Geneva. "I urge the international community to provide this support on the most urgent basis possible."
The agency had convened an expert committee this week to assess the severity of the continuing epidemic.
The current outbreak of Ebola began in Guinea in March and has since spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia, with a suspected cluster in Nigeria. There is no licensed treatment or vaccine for Ebola.
The impact of the WHO declaration is unclear; the declaration about polio doesn't yet seem to have slowed the spread of virus. During a WHO meeting last week to reconsider the status of polio, experts noted countries hadn't yet fully applied the recommendations made in May, there have been more instances of international spread and outbreaks have worsened in Pakistan and Cameroon.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have already elevated their Ebola response to the highest level and have recommended against traveling to West Africa. On Thursday, CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden told a Congressional hearing that the current outbreak is set to sicken more people than all previous outbreaks of the disease combined.
"I don't know what the advantage is of declaring an international emergency," said Dr. David Heymann, who directed WHO's response to the SARS outbreak and is now a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
"This could bring in more foreign aid but we don't know that yet," he said.
Other experts hoped the declaration would send more health workers to West Africa.
"The situation is very critical and different from what we've seen before," said Dr. Heinz Feldmann, chief of virology at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. "There are so many locations with transmission popping up and we just need more people on the ground."
WHO did not recommend any travel or trade bans but said people who had close contact with Ebola patients should not travel internationally. For countries with Ebola, WHO issued various recommendations, including exit screening at international airports and border crossings to spot potential cases. It also discouraged mass gatherings.
WHO said countries without Ebola should heighten their surveillance and treat any suspected cases as a health emergency.
This week, two of the worst-hit Ebola countries — Liberia and Sierra Leone — brought in troops to enforce quarantines and stop people infected with the disease from traveling. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said no one with a fever would be allowed in or out of the country and warned some civil liberties could be suspended if needed to bring the virus under control.
Chan said while extraordinary measures might be necessary to contain the outbreak, it is important to recognize civil rights.
"We need to respect the dignity of people and inform them why these measures are being taken," she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment