Ebola Patient In Dallas Struggling To Survive, Says CDC Head
Source: REUTERS
By Lisa Maria Garza and Sharon Begley
DALLAS/NEW YORK Sun Oct 5, 2014 4:47pm EDT
(Reuters) - The first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States was fighting for his life at a Dallas hospital on Sunday and appeared not to be receiving any of the experimental medicines for the virus, a top U.S. medical official said.
the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
--clip
In a media briefing with reporters on Sunday, Frieden said he was scheduled to brief President Barack Obama on Monday.
Frieden said doses of the experimental medicine ZMapp were "all gone" and that the drug, produced by San Diego-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, is "not going to be available anytime soon."
Asked about a second experimental drug, made by Canada's Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp, he said it "can be quite difficult for patients to take."
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/05/us-health-ebola-usa-idUSKCN0HT0MZ20141005
Reuters has some editing to do with this article but I posted as is.
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Chemisse
(30,809 posts)It must be pretty bad if death may be preferable.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)
pnwmom
(108,977 posts)Not every experimental drug turns out to be a miracle cure. Some of them turn out to be as bad or worse than the illness itself.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)you are describing may actually be worse than that. I think we need to put some more money into research on this disease. It looks like it may be around for a while.
Chemisse
(30,809 posts)
TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)Others certainly have. This isn't a question at this point of either he tries this experimental medication or he dies. It's much like a cancer patient that may survive on their own or using chemo when they are in a too weakened state for it and possibly dying because of the chemo. My father had to make the choice between survival for another 6 - 8 months with most of that time his being relatively pain or discomfort free or doing chemo when they didn't think his body could take it and a very real possibility of his dying during the chemo treatment. My dad opted for no chemo, he got about 7 months of relative pain or discomfort free time to see the people he wanted to see one last time, get his affairs in order and spend quality time with my mom.
But Mr. Duncan isn't in the same position as my dad was because he yet may survive the disease, and if he does that's the end of it unlike my dad's cancer that was going to kill him regardless. He's lasted a very long time so far compared to most people who've gotten the disease, and that's very hopeful. Most people that get to his stage of symptoms die within a couple of days even with treatment such as Doctors Without Borders are able to give which is not so different than what the Dallas hospital can give.
Other than that, see my post here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025624145#post34
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)All this stuff is experimental, and Tekmira in July got a clinical hold letter from the FDA for its trial in healthy patients. Now it is approved for infected patients, but it may in fact make them worse at some stages of illness.
Once the virus has proliferated to a certain stage in the blood vessels, a cascading cytokine response may not be the optimum for the patient, because it can produce or worsen cardiovascular collapse and organ failure.
Doctors have to make very tough choices here and they face a ton of unknowns. The consensus seems to be that blood transfusions (if you have a match) from recovered patients and stuff like ZMapp might be safer, because they aren't trying to provoke the body's own response. However, it does seem likely that they don't work after a certain stage of the disease.
Duncan is now receiving brincidofovir, which the FDA just approved as an emergency measure. That's an antiviral which had been in the very early investigative stage for Ebola:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/06/thomas-eric-duncan-ebola-patient-dallas-hospital/16798391/
There's also a Japanese antiviral, which is unproven. But my understanding is that some supplies of that have been sent to Africa.
The fact that Duncan's getting brincidofovir must mean that he's in bad shape - it's a medical Hail Mary. But the thing is, the drug is already being used in humans against cytomegalovirus, so more is known about the safety profile, and the FDA also approved it for trials against adenovirus in immune-compromised patients. So it's something that the doctors believe might help and probably won't hurt a fragile patient.
That article discusses a bit of the risks.
The Spanish priest treated with ZMapp died. There's not any silver bullet against Ebola right now - it's all just wishful thinking. There's been a pretty high survival rate in Africa with this outbreak, so it's not clear that ANY of the experimental treatments used have helped.
Chemisse
(30,809 posts)
calimary
(81,220 posts)
PearliePoo2
(7,768 posts)I don't think at that point there's any coming back. Oh man...there's really no words ....
tammywammy
(26,582 posts)
blackspade
(10,056 posts)"Frieden said doses of the experimental medicine ZMapp were "all gone" and that the drug, produced by San Diego-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, is "not going to be available anytime soon."
Well he is black, unlike the other patients treated in the US.
What about the other patient just transferred to Colorado? Are they getting the drug?
tammywammy
(26,582 posts)It was reported well before this guy was here they were out of the experimental drug.
quadrature
(2,049 posts)branford
(4,462 posts)Those who received the drug were extremely lucky, and the manufacturer very generous, particularly because any negative reactions could have very negatively impacted the company and upcoming trials. Moreover, given the very experimental status of the drug and its relative difficulty and expense to manufacture, why would they maintain a stockpile? They also reported they were out of doses well before the diagnosis of the man from Liberia or the employee of NBC.
If you are alleging any malfeasance or conspiracies by the drug manufacturer or anyone else, would you care to provide actual evidence?
quadrature
(2,049 posts)hospitals
doctors
drug companies
etc
.................
In my opinion,
those groups are not known for their
openness or truthfulness
branford
(4,462 posts)Information concerning the drug is well known and widely available. If it was not, studies could not be conducted, the drug could never make it to market, and it would never have been administered to the two patients, even on an experimental basis.
The manufacturer has also been extensively investigated and interviewed by numerous news sources worldwide. This exposure is good for the company, and they are in the process of producing more of the drug. It does not happen overnight, and it still has not actually been approved for widespread human use. My assertions are not rumor or innuendo, but statements from the company, treating doctors and hospitals, the government, and other relevant and knowledgeable public health and related authorities.
You, on the other hand, just don't trust all "doctors, hospitals, drug companies, etc."
Again, would you care to provide both your qualifications to question the innumerable individuals and institutions who corroborate the drug manufacturer's position, and any actual evidence other than general distrust and belief in conspiracies?
blackspade
(10,056 posts)I remain skeptical.
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)To make more includes the growing of a tobacco plant that takes a couple months.
TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)All were sent to Liberia free of charge. Two were used by the doctor and nurse missionaries, one was given to a British aid worker in Liberia, and other to a Spanish priest. All of the doses were likely given to aid workers since they need to keep the aid workers alive since they have so few, and informed consent could probably only be gotten from knowledgeable aid workers. The authorities in Liberia decided who got the ZMapp doses. I hardly think that Liberian authorities were being racist against blacks.
http://saharareporters.com/2014/08/12/touted-ebola-cure-drug-zmapp-sent-liberia
Touted Ebola Cure Drug, Zmapp, Sent To Liberia
Mapp Biopharmaceutical, the makers of Zmapp drug used with positive results on American doctor, Kent Brantly and nurse, Nance Writebol, who got infected with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Liberia, have forwarded the drug to Liberian authorities for treatment of Liberians suffering from the virus. After Nigeria’s request for the drug was turned down, President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made the same request, and it is believed that Liberia’s request was granted as it is one of the countries worst hit by the deadly disease.
* It has been later confirmed that Liberia got the ZMapp doses due to the company deciding at the time that it should go to the nation that was hardest hit with the disease which Liberia was at that time (no idea which country is hardest hit now).
blackspade
(10,056 posts)Individual treatments in August 2014
In 2014, Samaritan's Purse worked with the FDA and Mapp Biopharmaceutical to make the drug available to two of its health workers who were infected by Ebola during their work in Liberia, under the Expanded access program.[18] At the time, there were only a few doses of ZMapp in existence.[18] Both workers received the drug and were transported to the US, where they recovered and were then released from the hospital.[21][22][23] A 75-year-old Spanish priest who was infected with Ebola in Liberia received ZMapp in cooperation with Spanish health authorities, and died shortly thereafter.[24][25]
The west African nation of Liberia secured enough ZMapp to treat three Liberians with the disease, one of whom died.[26][27]
A British nurse who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone, was transported to the UK and treated with ZMapp, and recovered.[28][29]
Mapp announced on August 11, 2014 that its supplies of the drug had been exhausted.[30]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZMapp
It looks like only three doses went to Liberia rather than 7.
TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)Tell me again how this is racist especially when Mapp did all this for free? And Dr. Bradley and the woman missionary got their ZMapp while they were still in Liberia, so that means that five of the seven went there, and that's according to your own link.
I also distinctly recall that there was only one dose of ZMapp available for Dr. Bradley and the white woman missionary in Liberia and that Dr. Bradley insisted that she be the one to get it. Somehow another dose that was sent to Liberia ended up going to Bradley and his giving up the one offered to him might have been why he got it.
What we know is that most if not all of the ZMapp went to aid workers most of whom are white, and that was a choice made by Liberian authorities not because of race - Liberians are black for heaven's sake - but because the aid workers were so vital to keep alive so they could continue to help the scads of afflicted when they already had so woefully few there helping and who were also becoming afflicted themselves and dying. These white people volunteered to go to the outbreak areas which happen to be countries of black people and help them running the risk of infection and death themselves. Yet there you are not knowing anything about how many doses of ZMapp were made, where they went or who got them other than two white people and automatically just assume it's all about race. Now that you know better are you willing to admit that race had nothing to do with it and was a ridiculous ignorant assumption?
With only a handful of ZMapp doses made and donated for free to the afflicted in outbreak areas of course there's going to be hard choices as to who gets them, and it's just stupid to imagine that race has anything to do with it. Mapp only decided which black populated country they would go to and chose the one that had the most immediate and deadly problems. And maybe due to legal reasons there was only the choice of giving them to aid workers because of informed risk decisions by the people taking those doses. We also know that those people that got them had to be the most likely candidates for the ZMapp to be able to do any good. If someone is too far gone to likely get any benefit from ZMapp then they likely wouldn't get any.
The disease is a crap shoot in who survives and who doesn't as well. An old codger may survive while a hale and healthy 20-something may not. Some may end up rallying back when at death's door while some doing rather well may suddenly succumb. There's no knowing. There was just recently a story of one patient that was so far gone it was thought he was dead and when carrying him off in a body bag suddenly sat up having taken a turn for the better.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)57% for white people and 43% to black people...Equality!
Hurray for post racial society!
Aerows
(39,961 posts)it's not by any means a silver bullet.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)I think it is more of a question of when they start to receive treatment. As the infection starts to take over their immune system, the more the virus replicates. You can't come back after that. Two Spanish priests have died, and now one of the Spanish nurses that treated him in a Western Hospital has contracted it.
It's just very pernicious once virulent in a patient.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Everyone involved should be granted the highest degree of respect.
Turborama
(22,109 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)and is having some success. It's a crap shoot, roll the dice as many times as you can.
