In a time of medical crisis, the demand for rigorous action to cure the Ebola virus poses a question to the global Public Health officials as to what response is needed in the distribution of medical resources and how to ethically distribute said resources. The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is growing and pharmaceutical companies are releasing primary forms of medicine never before tested on humans. The drug, ZMapp, is a combination of three monoclonal antibodies which coordinate to inactivate the Ebola virus. Kent Bradley, an infected US doctor who formally treated patients with Ebola in Liberia, is the first and only human to use ZMapp but is showing signs of a successful recovery. From Bradley’s example, the United States Public Health Agency as well as many global Health Regulatory Associations are debating the ethics of providing ZMapp to West Africa. With limited knowledge of the effects of the drug in addition to limited supplies to create enough medicine for all, some argue the dangers outweigh the perfect situation for a clinical trial to test the drug on infected humans. The majority believes with a strictly controlled clinical trial, the drug could be beneficial in subsiding the deadly virus and providing African countries with the same opportunities as Western countries to have quick experimental interventions.
Submitted by Naomi Barker
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