
Two aid workers infected with the Ebola virus have been discharged from hospital - jdmitch
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-28885753
======
bellerocky
I wonder if Brantly has now immunity or resistance and can help fight the
disease without worry of reinfection. How does that work? Can you be
reinfected with ebola if you survive?

~~~
azernik
I don't remember which newspaper I read this in (I believe New York Times?)
but apparently there are ~5 known varieties of Ebola, and recovering from an
infection only grants immunity to that one variety.

So, in general, no, but if this outbreak involves only one strain they might
be immune to that particular one.

~~~
s_q_b
According to the blood samples on 20 patients throughout West Africa, the
current outbreak is a new strain. It is closely related to Ebola Zaire, but
appears to have involved a different trans-species transmission event than the
Zaire strain.

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rayiner
More info on ZMapp, the experimental serum both patients were given:
[http://mashable.com/2014/08/17/ebola-serum-
zmapp/](http://mashable.com/2014/08/17/ebola-serum-zmapp/)

Also, this would make a great movie.

------
leishulang
Heroes.

~~~
NathanCH
I'm curious why you think that. Or did you mean the doctors that helped save
them?

~~~
donsupreme
If he was a doctor in AIDS ward, and got infected with HIV while caring for
other sick patients, wouldn't he be considered a hero? He is a missionary
doctor oversea, working in some of the poorest countries in the world, clearly
not doing for the money. Believe it or not, people have been called heroes for
doing a lot less than that.

~~~
privong
> If he was a doctor in AIDS ward, and got infected with HIV while caring for
> other sick patients, wouldn't he be considered a hero?

Why is contraction of the virus implied as a necessary condition for being a
hero? Clearly the heroic act is the treatement of others; that the
hypothetical AIDS doctor or these ebola doctors contracted the disease they
were treating in others should not be a necessary condition for considering
them heroes.

~~~
anigbrowl
It isn't; it's the risk of doing so that one willingly runs which makes one a
hero. Since we don't see these peole at work the fact of contracting it is an
indirect proof of hands-on activity.

------
lazylester
I just can't reconcile that a man of science (Brantly) credits magic ("God")
for his recovery! Don't you get cognitive dissonance dude?

~~~
Shivetya
please note that when many people credit God they do not necessarily do for
the act of curing them but for allowing them to be cured.

~~~
wehadfun
There are a million things that had to go right for him to take the drug (no
transportation problems, no attack, hospital didn't catch on fire, medicine
didn't get compromised) science and Man control none of them. So it makes
since that he thanked God.

~~~
jmgao
Don't forget getting ebola in the first place!

------
clebio
Is this just poor writing, or poor representation of the science? This article
contradicts itself.

> said in a statement that she was free of the virus but was significantly
> weakened.

> There is no cure for Ebola, ...

> But both Dr Brantly and Mrs Writebol received an experimental treatment
> known as ZMapp.

> ...it remains unclear if [ZMapp] is responsible for their recovery.

Is the virus in remission, or has it been eradicated from Writebol? If there
is no cure, then it cannot have been eradicated. Maybe there's no _proven_
cure, in the sense of full medical trials?

In the 'poor writing' department (but unrelated to the above), the article
also doesn't tell us who Franklin Graham is. This appears to be the only
reference to the name:

> ...Franklin Graham said in a statement.

~~~
giarc
There is not cure for Ebola like there is for other diseases. Ebola is a acute
infection, meaning that if the body can fight it off, it leaves the body.
Think of it like influenza. There is no cure, but once you get over it, there
is no more influenza virus in your system.

They were given ZMapp, but they can't tell if that worked or not. Perhaps they
would have overcome their illness without it.

They likely didn't say that the male was free of the virus because it has been
shown that Ebola can be transmitted through semen of men for up to 7 weeks.

------
phkahler
I've been wondering about treating ebola with iodine. It's antimicrobial and
antiviral. The Red Cross uses it to clean the skin before taking blood
donations because it is superior to alcohol for cleaning. It is also useful to
promote healing, among many other things (It seem to be helpful to the
mitochondria which means wide-ranging benefit). But just due to the use for
cleaning, and the aid in healing, I wonder if a few drops of Lugol's solution
in a glass of water several times a day would help an ebola patient. That
would hit right in the gut where the infection goes wild and does the most
damage.

~~~
epochwolf
The iodine used in cleaning skin causes all kinds of internal damage if
ingested. See [http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-
health/symptoms-o...](http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-
health/symptoms-of-iodine-overdose/)

~~~
phkahler
I'm not advocating concentrated iodine. A few drops of Lugol's mixed in a
glass of water isn't going to damage anything - lots of people take that exact
amount on a regular basis. We could argue about long term effects of that, but
I'm talking about doing it for a week or two to help with something that is
killing half the people it infects.

Where is the guy with iodine user id when you need them?

