An article in the New England Journal of Medicine was published by the five physicians who treated the first two Ebola virus patients namely, Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol. They were transferred to Emory from Liberia after becoming ill. Emory Healthcare is the largest health care system found in Georgia.
The authors of the article which was published Nov. 12 are members of Emory's Serious Communicable Disease Unit. The said article focuses on the supportive care that was given to the patients from monitoring symptoms and vital signs, to providing fluids and correcting the levels of electrolytes.
The article mentioned what were the experiences of the patients and how the physicians acted in the process of treating the Ebola virus disease. It also details the use of ZMapp, an experimental treatment that was started in Liberia and continued at Emory, although there was not enough information to confirm if ZMapp really helped the patients or whether the positive improvements were results of the advanced supportive care given to the patients as well as the response of the patients own immune systems.
The during the patients stay in the hospital, the doctors noticed that both of the patients blood contained a distinct amount of antibodies that's against Ebola proteins and Since Zmapp consists of three antibodies that's against the Ebola virus affecting the external glycoprotein, the physicians looked for antibodies against the internal viral nucleoprotein and they found its production in these two patients.
ollowing initial diagnosis and a few more tests, the results were negative for Ebola virus thus the patients were released from the hospital on days 30 and 29. This is great news for everyone since everybody fears that death is the only end to all Ebola virus victims. It is good to know that Ebola patients have the chance to be cured, survive, and live to tell the tale.
