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Spanish Priest Becomes First European to Die of Ebola Virus World Health Body Endorses Use of Experimental Drugs Against Ebola Virus
(about 1 hour later)
A Spanish priest infected with the Ebola virus in West Africa has died in a hospital in Madrid, the Spanish health authorities announced on Tuesday, becoming the first European fatality from the worst known outbreak of the disease and the first person to die of it on European soil. GENEVA — The World Health Organization on Tuesday endorsed the use of untested drugs to combat the Ebola virus, just hours after a Spanish priest who had been supplied with experimental medication became the first European to die of a disease that has claimed more than 1,000 lives in West Africa and which ranks as the worst known outbreak.
The priest, Miguel Pajares, 75, was airlifted from Liberia on August 7 after showing symptoms of the disease that has now killed over 1,000 people, mainly in the West African states of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Two fatalities have also been reported from Nigeria. Citing medical confidentiality rules, hospital authorities in Madrid declined to say whether the priest, Miguel Pajares, 75, had been treated with an experimental drug, ZMapp, made in the United States, which the Spanish Health Ministry said on Monday that it had obtained for him.
In Geneva, the World Health Organization convened an ethics panel on Monday to debate the broader use of untested drugs and said in a statement on its web site on Tuesday: “In the particular circumstances of this outbreak, and provided certain conditions are met, the panel reached consensus that it is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects, as potential treatment or prevention.”
The panel said the use of untested drugs should be guided by ethical criteria, including transparency about all aspects of the care provided, informed consent of the patient, freedom of choice and patient confidentiality.
No proven cure or vaccine yet exists for the Ebola virus which the World Health Organization reported has now killed 1,013 people in four West African countries — Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. Around half the people infected in the outbreak, which was first reported in March, have died.
Last week the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency.Last week the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency.
Mr. Pajares had been working for a nongovernmental organization. He was flown back to Spain with a nun who worked with him, Juliana Bohi, who has tested negative for the Ebola virus. He was treated at Carlos III hospital in Madrid. So far, experimental medication has been made available to only a handful of patients, all of them foreign aid workers evacuated from West Africa, prompting ethical concerns about disparities in the availability of treatment between white outsiders and the Africans who form the overwhelming majority of the victims.
His death could also deepen worries about ethical and medical questions relating to the treatment of Ebola, for which there is no licensed cure or vaccine. Around half the people infected in the current outbreak, which was first reported in March, have died. ZMapp, the drug sent to Madrid for Mr. Pajares, was reported last week to have helped two American aid workers, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who were initially treated in Liberia and were evacuated to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
The Spanish Health Ministry said on Monday that it had obtained an experimental drug, ZMapp, made in the United States, for the priest. But hospital officials declined to say on Tuesday whether the priest had been treated with it, citing medical confidentiality rules. The Spanish priest, Mr. Pajares, was flown back to Spain with a nun who worked with him, Juliana Bohi, who has tested negative for the Ebola virus. He was treated at Carlos III hospital in Madrid. The priest worked for a Roman Catholic order based in Spain that runs hospitals in many parts of the world and had been treating Ebola patients in Liberia. His death from the Ebola virus was the first reported on European soil.
The priest, who worked for a Roman Catholic order based in Spain that runs hospitals in many parts of the world, had been treating Ebola patients in Liberia. Tuesday’s statement from the World Health Organization came as Liberia announced that it will receive ZMapp after a request to the United States by its President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
On Monday the World Health Organization in Geneva convened a panel to debate the ethics of releasing experimental drugs more widely. The World Health Organization played no part in that decision, a spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told reporters in Geneva.