P R E S S R E L E A S E

March 26, 2015

For Immediate Release

AfricaWrites donates laboratory equipment needed for isolation of

Ebola-immune serum for tests and trials in Sierra Leone

Kankan, Guinea — In an effort that will strongly enhance efforts to combat the Ebola epidemic in

the African republic of Sierra Leone, the AfricaWrites Mobile Health Clinic in late March will provide vital

scientific equipment, including a high-speed refrigerated centrifuge and an array of laboratory supplies, to

the Joint Medical Unit of 34 Military Hospital in Wilberforce, Freetown, AfricaWrites announced today.

The supplies are being donated expressly to facilitate the implementation of World Health

Organization guidelines released last September providing for the use of blood from patients who have

recovered from Ebola in treating people stricken with the usually deadly disease.

The equipment will be used to collect blood and plasma from Ebola survivors. Scientists will use

natural Ebola antibodies in the survivors’ blood to produce the convalescent serum known as immune

serum globulin, which will be used in trials and to treat Ebola-infected patients in Sierra Leone.

The current outbreak of Ebola began in Guinea more than a year ago. It has spread to numerous

countries, and the dead number in the thousands. The hemorrhagic fever has proven difficult to contain

and more difficult to treat. And essential medical and scientific equipment and supplies have been scarce

or unavailable.

Further compounding matters, medical officials had been reticent to use these blood products

without extensive, systematic testing, even though the technique had proved effective in an Ebola

outbreak in Zaire in the 1980s and despite the high death rate from the current epidemic.

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AfricaWrites, Ebola/add 1

Following an awareness campaign organized by AfricaWrites and Tomislav Prvulović, M.D., PhD.,

professor of tropical diseases and WHO Inter-Regional Medical Officer in Congo-Brazzaville and Zaire

(1988- 1992), in consultation with officials and medical specialists in Ebola-affected West African

countries, WHO issued a set of guidelines last September titled “Use of Convalescent Whole Blood or

Plasma Collected from Patients Recovered from Ebola Virus Disease for Transfusion, as an Empirical

Treatment during Outbreaks” that implements protocols for the approach. The new equipment will help

make the procedures possible.

“There remains a great deal of work to be done to contain the spread of infection,” said

AfricaWrites Director Patrick Gorham Lanfia Touré of the current epidemic. “We are hopeful that, by

providing African officials the necessary tools to help treat the infected, that the people of Africa will

ultimately prevail against this terrible disease.” This epidemic has claimed more than 10,000 lives, and

new cases continue to be reported in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. “We offer our thanks and

appreciation to all who have supported this most important and urgent endeavor,” Gorham Touré said.

AfricaWrites is a nonprofit NGO based in Kankan, Guinea. Its mission is to redefine African

history and culture through proper observation, documentation, and representation from local indigenous

African perspectives.

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Contact:

Patrick Gorham Lanfia Touré

Tel. Guinea +224-6646-40200

Tel. USA 646-338-7239

Email: info@africawrites.com