Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

So, What Cured Ebola Patients Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol?
NBC News ^ | 08/21/2014 | Maggie Fox

Posted on 08/21/2014 1:51:27 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

The two American Ebola patients, medical missionaries Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly, have walked out of Emory University Hospital in Atlanta infection-free.

They were the first human beings to receive an experimental drug called ZMapp. But they are not the first people to have recovered from Ebola, and good hospital care is likely more responsible for their recovery than any mysterious “serum," as the charities they work for termed it.

“They are the very first individuals to have ever receive this agent,” Dr. Bruce Ribner, director of Emory’s Infectious Disease Unit, told a news conference. “There is no prior experience with it, and frankly, we do not know whether it helped them, whether it made no difference, or even, theoretically, if it delayed their recovery.”

Ebola has infected 2,500 people in West Africa and killed 1,350 of them. That’s roughly a 50 percent fatality rate, but experts agree the true number of cases and deaths is not yet known because of the poor healthcare systems in the three affected countries and because many people hide when they get sick.

There’s no specific cure for Ebola, but doctors with experience treating it say they have found that if people get early supportive care, including saline solution and fever reducers, they are far more likely to recover.

Ribner says three weeks of treating Writebol and Brantly have shown them something else: Just like with cholera, patients have severe diarrhea and they lose important chemicals called electrolytes. Replacing these minerals — notably potassium, magnesium and sodium — helps patients recover better, he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ebola; kentbrantley; nancywritebol
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

1 posted on 08/21/2014 1:51:27 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

hydration and their immune system. basics.


2 posted on 08/21/2014 1:56:34 PM PDT by Blueflag (Res ipsa loquitur: non vehere est inermus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Blueflag

Getting out of a Turd-World Hellhole.


3 posted on 08/21/2014 1:56:54 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

This illustrates why the usual double-blind clinical testing of medical treatments is important. Without rigorous testing, it’s much more difficult to determine whether it was the “treatment”, or some other factor, that produced the results.


4 posted on 08/21/2014 1:59:53 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Ok... So if we get Ebola outbreak here, quarantine myself, take plenty of fever reducers and drink LOTS or poweraid and chicken noodle soup....


5 posted on 08/21/2014 2:00:09 PM PDT by GraceG (No, My Initials are not A.B.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

“Ribner says three weeks of treating Writebol and Brantly have shown them something else: Just like with cholera, patients have severe diarrhea and they lose important chemicals called electrolytes. Replacing these minerals — notably potassium, magnesium and sodium — helps patients recover better, he said.”

So...stockpile Gatorade? Bottle or freeze chicken soup this summer? Probably both - neither is harmful.

I regularly freeze chicken soup because it is ‘Jewish penicillin’, and though it doesn’t really keep rhino viruses away, it certainly doesn’t hurt a person either.


6 posted on 08/21/2014 2:00:14 PM PDT by SatinDoll (A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN IS BORN IN THE US OF US CITIZEN PARENTS.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GraceG

Hey, Grace! We’re thinking alike. I was writing my comment and after posting, found you had beat me to the same opinion.

Cool!


7 posted on 08/21/2014 2:01:53 PM PDT by SatinDoll (A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN IS BORN IN THE US OF US CITIZEN PARENTS.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

It is possible the intelligence community got wind of plans to indroduce ebola into the US as a biological weapon using human incubators, so they came up with an elaborate ruse using these doctors to make it look like a vaccine had been developed.


8 posted on 08/21/2014 2:04:10 PM PDT by SpaceBar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar

Or to prevent wholesale panic


9 posted on 08/21/2014 2:10:11 PM PDT by Califreak (Hope and Che'nge is killing U.S.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Results of success using the 'vaccine' are inconclusive
as Brantly also recieved a transfusion from a 14 Yr. old Ebola survivor.
Alledgedly , once infected , human antibodies will successfully resist reinfection .
10 posted on 08/21/2014 2:11:30 PM PDT by Tilted Irish Kilt (FUBO; Obungler = The didler CIC)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SatinDoll

[ Hey, Grace! We’re thinking alike. I was writing my comment and after posting, found you had beat me to the same opinion.

Cool! ]

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!!

:P


11 posted on 08/21/2014 2:13:45 PM PDT by GraceG (No, My Initials are not A.B.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar

[ It is possible the intelligence community got wind of plans to indroduce ebola into the US as a biological weapon using human incubators, so they came up with an elaborate ruse using these doctors to make it look like a vaccine had been developed. ]

That is a bit tin foily, but very Plausible...

I could see it as sending ISIS/ISIL/Yabba Dabba Doo an indirect message that their Ebola plan would fail....


12 posted on 08/21/2014 2:15:04 PM PDT by GraceG (No, My Initials are not A.B.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

God did!


13 posted on 08/21/2014 2:19:04 PM PDT by petitfour
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: petitfour

RE: God did!

Yes, but by what means?


14 posted on 08/21/2014 2:24:00 PM PDT by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.


15 posted on 08/21/2014 2:32:27 PM PDT by TexasRepublic (Socialism is the gospel of envy and the religion of thieves)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Maybe they and many, many others prayed for complete healing!


16 posted on 08/21/2014 2:32:57 PM PDT by zerosix (Native Sunflower)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

God answered the prayers of Christians who implored Him to heal His servants.


17 posted on 08/21/2014 2:39:17 PM PDT by txrefugee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: txrefugee

Sure, but by what means?


18 posted on 08/21/2014 2:40:07 PM PDT by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
God has many sources and He alone knows which He used.

I would imagine He has plans for those two to continue to work for Him among the lost.

What better way to show those they have served in their ministry in Africa, that there is help for this dreaded disease, if people would just seek help sooner and in updated clinics where trained workers can treat them.

19 posted on 08/21/2014 2:43:56 PM PDT by zerosix (Native Sunflower)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: petitfour

God helps those who help themselves..........
Personally I want the ability to put in an IV line for my hydration if I (God forbid) were to catch Ebola. Drinking Gatorade probably won’t work. Lot’s of reasons why not.


20 posted on 08/21/2014 2:44:46 PM PDT by mistfree (It's a very uncreative man who can't think of more than one way to spell a word.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson