Grant: Operating Grant - Innovative Ebola Research Grants

Approximately half of those infected with Ebola virus in West Africa have died. Most commonly, people develop vomiting and diarrhea, become severely dehydrated, their blood pressure falls, and their vital organs fail. With little medical care at the outbreak's start, mortality was approximately 70%, but has fallen with improved medical care. If we can prevent dehydration and support patients until they produce antibodies to clear the virus from their system, most patients survive. Among patients evacuated to European and US hospitals with advanced critical care, just 20% of patients die. Governments and humanitarian organizations did not believe it was possible to deliver such care in West Africa; however, there is now one Ebola treatment center in West Africa providing critical care, including life-sustaining support for the heart, lungs and kidneys. Our goal is to build a "practice" treatment centre in Canada able to provide advanced care to patients, demonstrating to others that we can deliver excellent care to help patients survive. The Canadian treatment unit will be constructed in an existing facility that can simulate temperature & humidity of West Africa, and with materials, medications and life-supporting equipment that can be used in an Ebola zone. Using "simulated" scenarios - not patients but actors and medical mannequins - we will measure how feasible it is to deliver care, wearing protective medical equipment, and importantly, how safe it is for health workers. This treatment unit and procedures we hone will serve as an example to health teams - West African and humanitarian organizations - about what is possible. Our team already has experience treating Ebola patients, building such a "practice" centre in West Africa, training health workers, and we have constructed a practice treatment unit here. By involving partners from West Africa and Canada throughout the process, we will have the best chance at rapidly influencing care delivery in West Africa.