CDC on High Alert as Ebola Virus Outbreak Spreads from West Africa

Aug. 7, 2014

Precautions taken by the West African nations have not been enough to control the Ebola pandemic, which has caused over 900 deaths since late March, making it the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

Deaths have been reported in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Cases are being treated in the U.S. and Spain. Scares have been reported in the UK, France and Thailand. Governments around the world are acting to protect the health of their citizens by screening passengers, disinfecting planes and monitoring those returning from West Africa for symptoms of the disease. 

Two American aid workers infected with Ebola while working in Liberia have shown signs of recovery after receiving a “cocktail” of experimental drugs manufactured by San Diego-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical and Canada’s Defyrus. The treatment, which combines Mapp’s drug, ZMapp and ZMAb from Defyrus, has not been approved by the FDA and had previously only been tested on monkeys.

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