T H E J E W I S H H O M E n A U G U S T 1 4 , 2014
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The Week been used to treat two infected Americans. Unfortunately, no Africans have obtained the life-saving serum to combat the hemorrhagic disease that has been ravaging West Africa for months and has killed about 50 percent of those it infects. On Tuesday, though, it was reported that Father Miguel Pajares, 75, died. It was not made clear if he took the drug before his death.
There is no known cure or licensed treatment for Ebola, which has killed 1,013 people in the current outbreak in West Africa. The World Health Organization has called the Ebola outbreak
— which emerged in Guinea in March and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and possibly Nigeria — an international health emergency and urged nations worldwide to battle the disease. Authorities have recorded 1,848 suspected, probable or confirmed cases of the killer virus Despite the raging outbreak of Ebola, the drug’s maker, Mapp Pharmaceutical Inc. of San Diego, says on its website that “very little of the drug is currently available” and that it is cooperating with government agencies to increase production as quickly as possible. Nigerian officials say they had asked U.S. health authorities about getting the Ebola drug last week. “It certainly looks bad that only three Westerners have gotten the drug while most of the people with Ebola are African,” said Art Caplan, director of bioethics at NYU Langone Medical Center. He said the drug maker must make its policy for distributing its treatment clear. “I don’t think this scarce resource should just be given to whoever is best connected.” Despite the apparent disparity over who is receiving the life-saving drug,
In News Caplan points out that there might be a reasonable explanation for why only Westerners were given the drug, including the need for a sophisticated medical center to administer it and monitor the patient carefully since the drug hasn’t been tested in humans. But some Africans said giving the experimental drug only to Westerners is patently unfair. “There’s no reason to try this medicine on sick white people and to ignore blacks,” said Marcel Guilavogui, a pharmacist in Conakry, Guinea. “We understand that it’s a drug that’s being tested for the first time and that could have negative side effects. But we have to try it in blacks too.” In Nigeria, which says it has 10 confirmed cases of Ebola, some people began demanding the serum on Twitter. The World Health Organization has not yet confirmed the Nigerian cases. In a statement, the Spanish Health Ministry said the ZMapp drug was obtained in Geneva this weekend with permission from the company and brought to Madrid to treat Miguel Pajares. The 75-year-old priest was evacuated from Liberia and placed in isolation Thursday at Madrid’s Carlos III Hospital. Two Americans diagnosed with Ebola in Liberia and evacuated back to the United States have been treated with the drug. One of them, Dr. Kent Brantly, said last week that his condition was improving and the husband of the aid worker being treated with Brantly said the same thing. The drug has not been tested on humans; scientists insist there’s no way to tell if a real difference has been made in their condition due to the drug. As of Monday, a Catholic humanitarian group based in Spain said that another religious worker and colleague of the infected Spanish priest had died in from Ebola in Liberia. Nigerian health authorities confirmed another Ebola case on Monday, a nurse who had treated Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American who flew into Nigeria and died last month. That brings the locally confirmed Ebola cases in Nigeria to 10, including the two who have died, Sawyer and another nurse. Nigerian authorities now have 177 of people who were in contact with Sawyer under surveillance. Liberia has announced that protective gear from China was arriving to the country on Monday. The shortage of full-body suits and even clean gloves has prevented health workers from treating patients without being exposed to the virus.
Where are They Happy to See You? Most vacationers can agree that a cheerful hello from locals and some practical tips and suggestions are always welcome and can even make a visit all the more enjoyable. But not every city is happy to welcome tourists or at least not very good at showing it. Each year, Condé Nast Traveler readers choose the friendliest and unfriendliest cities around the world based on their experiences. If you’re planning a vacation in the upcoming year, you should check out this list before packing your bags.
So where are the locals the happiest to see your American dollars? The friendliest cities in the world are located down under: Auckland and Melbourne both tied for first place. Victoria, Canada; Charleston, South Carolina; Dublin, Ireland; and Sydney, Australia, made up the top five places with the smiling-est people. Where should you probably not visit in the upcoming year if you’re looking for people to be happy to see you? In these cities, the locals have been labeled the unfriendliest in the world. Believe it or not, Johannesburg, South Africa, came in as the city with people who are least happy to see your face. Cannes, France; Moscow, Russia; Paris, France; and Marseille, France, all came in as the most unfriendliest cities around the globe.
Putin Bans Western Imports Last week, Russia banned most food imports from the West in retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine. But the ban may negatively affect Russians more than Westerners. It has been criticized as a move that will not only cost Western farmers billions of dollars but could also lead to empty shelves in Russian cities. The decision shows that President Vladimir Putin has no intention of bow-