Gates Foundation now funding Ebola vaccine development that might be forced upon us all

(NaturalNews) As the Ebola virus continues to spread in West Africa, health institutes, activist groups, medical volunteers and philanthropists are doing what they can to "help" not only contain the deadly disease but to stamp it out as well.

One of those philanthropy groups is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has stepped up to donate $50 million in emergency funds to the effort, the most the organization has ever made in response to a health emergency. It follows a report from researchers at Oxford University that the virus could eventually be spread by wildlife to 22 African countries.

However, there's one problem with the effort -- the Gates Foundation is funding research into a new Ebola vaccine that everyone would be forced to take.

Fear appears to be driving the push for a cure, however. As reported by Bloomberg Businessweek:

While the Ebola virus produces frightening symptoms and headlines, the death toll from the current epidemic is now hovering at around 2,300, according to the World Health Organization. What makes Ebola so frightening is the fact that there are no easy fixes: no vaccine, no cure, and no easy way to contain it--the disease might also be transmitted by bats and chimpanzees.

Gates Foundation a major player in global health care

Indeed, the mysterious nature and rapid spread of Ebola, associated with a painful and -- more often than not -- fatal outcome, has rattled health experts and professionals alike from all over the world. Experts from a number of global and national health organizations like the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as Doctors Without Borders, a health activist group that provides free medical care to economically deprived regions of the world, are all sounding alarm bells. They want a massive global response to the outbreak, but that has yet to happen.

The Gates Foundation has been a major player in world health. Bill and Melinda Gates have long sought cures for malaria, for example, and through their foundation, they have developed healthcare-sector relationships and access that even officials with the United Nations can only dream about. So the influence to push whatever "cure" the foundation helps develop is there.

Meanwhile, the U.S. effort to help combat the spread of the disease -- totaling $100 million thus far -- is continuing. On Sept. 11, U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone Kathleen FitzGibbon handed the keys to five ambulances donated by the U.S. government to the Sierra Leone government. It can often take up to 24 hours for medical personnel to retrieve the bodies of Ebola victims, due to the country's collapsing medical system; the longer bodies are left in the open, the more likely the disease is to spread.

As further reported by The Associated Press:

Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea -- the three countries hit hardest by the outbreak -- are also in need of more protective gear for health care workers and more treatment beds for Ebola victims. The World Health Organization says about 1,000 more beds in isolation centers are needed.

The jury is still out on an experimental treatment

And the government of Senegal has announced that the country's lone Ebola patient is recovering and will survive, but government officials said he is still suffering psychologically, having lost several family members to the disease.

As for Ebola treatments, the CDC says on its website that the experimental drug ZMapp has been developed but has not yet been tested on humans. But as Natural News has reported, the drug actually has been tested -- on a sickened Liberian doctor -- but it failed:

According to Lewis Brown, Liberia's Information Minister, Dr. Abraham Borbor seemed to be improving after being given ZMapp but suddenly "took a turn for the worse," calling into question the effectiveness of the experimental drug.

However, also as we reported, there are instances where the experimental drug might have worked. Two American healthcare workers got better after receiving ZMapp. Still, their recoveries may not have been tied to the drug; both patients received high-dose, intravenous nutrition and carefully monitored fluid-replacement therapy. You can read about that here: NaturalNews.com.

Learn more about natural defenses against viral outbreaks at BioDefense.com.

Sources:

http://www.foxnews.com

http://www.businessweek.com

http://www.cdc.gov

http://www.naturalnews.com