deplete
西アフリカ諸国で大流行しているエボラ出血熱についての記事です。WHOによると１１日には死者が１０００人を超え、患者数が急増しているこの状況においては、まだ開発段階の治療薬やワクチンの投与は倫理的であるとの声明を発表しました。
今回の単語は”deplete”です。『ジーニアス英和辞典（４版、大修館書店）』によると、「（金、蓄え、資源など）を使い果たす、枯渇させる」という意味がありました。また、そのすぐ後に出てくる”exhausted”ですが、こちらも同様に「（蓄え、資金など）を使い果たす」という意味があることが分かりました。
数少ない治療薬やワクチンを、誰から優先して投与するかなど解決すべき問題はまだまだ出てくると思いますが、一刻も早く感染の拡大が治まることを願うしかありません。(bookmark)
MADRID (AP)—The World Health Organization declared it’s ethical to use untested drugs and vaccines in the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa although the tiny supply of one experimental treatment has been depleted and it could be many months until more is available.
The last of the drug is on its way to Liberia for two stricken doctors, according to a U.K.-based public relations firm representing Liberia. The U.S. company that makes it said the supply is now “exhausted.”
A Spanish missionary priest who died Tuesday in Madrid was the third person to receive the experimental treatment called ZMapp. Two U.S. aid workers who received it in recent weeks are said to be improving.
The outbreak has killed more than 1,000 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
There is no proven treatment or vaccine for Ebola; several are in early stages of development. ZMapp, made by Mapp Pharmaceuticals, is so new that it has never been tested in humans although an early version worked in some monkeys infected with Ebola. It’s aimed at boosting the immune system’s efforts to fight off Ebola.
“If there are drugs that can save lives—as animal studies have suggested—shouldn’t we use them to save lives?” Marie-Paule Kieny, an assistant director general at WHO, told a press conference Tuesday.
