State of Lagos Rejects Drug Untested 'Nano Silver' Drug To Treat Nigerian Ebola Patients

[Emily]

http://online.wsj.com/articles/nigerian-ebola-patients-to-be-given-experimental-drug-1408034006?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304414104580091611112125230.html

Ebola Virus: Nigerian Patients to Be Given Experimental Drug
Untested Drug on Way to Lagos to Treat Eight Nigerians

By Gbenga Akingbule And Heidi Vogt
Updated Aug. 14, 2014 3:59 p.m. ET

Ebola victims in the Nigerian commercial capital Lagos will receive an experimental drug called Nano Silver, Nigeria's top health official said Thursday, in a step that introduces a new untested treatment to the fight against an outbreak in several West African countries.

Nigeria's Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, told reporters that the experimental drug came from a Nigerian scientist, but he refused to disclose the scientist's...

http://www.nigerianeye.com/2014/08/nigerian-scientist-develops-trial-ebola.html

Nigerian scientist develops trial Ebola drug, 'Nano Silver' for the treatment of Ebola Virus Disease
Thursday, August 14, 2014

 

[Emily]

Re: Ebola Virus: Nigerian Patients to Be Given Experimental Drug Untested 'Nano Silver' Drug on Way to Lagos to Treat Eight Nigerians

Re: Ebola Virus: Nigerian Patients to Be Given Experimental Drug Untested 'Nano Silver' Drug on Way to Lagos to Treat Eight Nigerians

http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/155363/1/ebola-drug-nanosilver-arrives-nigeria-today-as-bra.html

14 August 2014 Last updated at 18:43 CET
0 Comment
Ebola drug, Nanosilver, arrives Nigeria today, as brain behind drug writes Jonathan
A drug, called ?Nanosilver? an experimental drug for treatment of Ebola, will arrive the country today, health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said.


Meanwhile, it was gathered that Dr (Mrs) Rima E. Laibow, the medical doctor behind 'Nano Silver' has written an open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan over the availability of the 'cure'.

The drug, called ?Nanosilver?, can now be used following the approval by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that experimental treatments are ethical in the case of the Ebola pandemic.

...

According to Chukwu, the experimental drug is a donation from a Nigerian scientist who was concerned about threat of Ebola in his home country. ?The drug will reach Nigeria today,? he said. Chukwu disclosed that the 169 secondary contacts were still under surveillance, while in all Ebola 11 cases had been recorded, including the index case, Patrick Sawyer, and the two Nigerians who died of the disease. ?...

Apparently the military did a little research in 2009 with ebolavirus and nanosilver:

http://www.thesilveredge.com/pdf/defense-threat-reduction-agency-silver-nanoparticles-neutralize-hemorrhagic-fever-viruses.pdf

Novel Nanotechnology-Based
Antiviral Agents:
Silver nanoparticle neutralization of hemorrhagic
fever viruses

Janice Speshock, Ph.D.
Saber Hussain, Ph.D.
Applied Biotechnology Branch
711th Human Performance Wing
Air Force Research Laboratory

Cleared for public release 88ABW-2009-4491
UNCLASSIFIED

There were some promising in vitro results, but only further research was recommended, not treatment of any kind.

 

[Emily]

Re: Ebola Virus: Nigerian Patients to Be Given Experimental Drug Untested 'Nano Silver' Drug on Way to Lagos to Treat Eight Nigerians

Re: Ebola Virus: Nigerian Patients to Be Given Experimental Drug Untested 'Nano Silver' Drug on Way to Lagos to Treat Eight Nigerians

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/lagos-rejects-ebola-trial-drug-nano-silver-2/

Lagos rejects Ebola trial drug, Nano Silver

Posted by: Miriam Ekene-Okoro and Wale Adepoju in Featured, News 22 mins ago

The Lagos State Government has declared its resolve not to use any drug other than the American ZMAPP for the Ebola patients in its custody.

The Commissioner of Health, Dr Jide idris, disclosed this to The Nation, exclusively yesterday.

As at yesterday, it was still sketchy if the drug has arrived the shores of Nigeria....

Details have been sketchy all around on this and a lot of misinformation is circulating, such as the FDA thinking that nanosilver is strictly used either as a dietary supplement or as a pesticide just because they are saying it is not an approved Ebola treatment.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/ebola-hope-dashed-us-declares-drug-pesticide/

Ebola: Hope dashed as US declares drug pesticide

on August 16, 2014 / in Headlines 12:07 am
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/...drug-pesticide/#sthash.t7emvJFc.PAZx5f28.dpuf

There seem to be many medical applications for nanosilver:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4037247/

Int J Nanomedicine. 2014; 9: 2399–2407.
Published online May 16, 2014. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S55015
PMCID: PMC4037247
Nanosilver particles in medical applications: synthesis, performance, and toxicity

That article indicates it even has been used as an injected contrast media for imaging. That doesn't mean there weren't side effects, though.

Also this environmental health doctor says so far what little data there is on treating active viral infections in general with nanosilver has not been promising:

http://www.riskscience.umich.edu/nano-silver-used-treat-ebola-victims-nigeria/

Is using nano silver to treat Ebola misguided?
August 15, 2014
Andrew Maynard