Businessman claims US has Ebola vaccine in KQ case
Kenya health officers arrange a makeshift Ebola-screening desk outside Kenya's immigration offices at the Kenya-Tanzania border on August 20, 2014. The Kenyan border entry point has no equipment to screen travellers. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The United States government had patented the Ebola virus, its vaccine and cure in October 2012.
- The World Health Organisation has, however, maintained that there is no licensed cure for the deadly viral disease.
Kenya’s effort to shield its citizens against the deadly Ebola epidemic took a new turn Wednesday after a businessman accused the US government of owning the virus that has killed more than 1,000 people in West Africa and caused havoc in the aviation industry.
The sensational claim was made in suit papers supporting businessman Joseph Enock Aura’s quest to have the High Court throw out a case filed by the Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) lobby group seeking to compel national carrier Kenya Airways to stop flying to West African nations hit by the Ebola epidemic.
Mr Aura told the court that the US government had patented the Ebola virus, its vaccine and cure in October 2012 and should be compelled to bring the health crisis to a stop instead of targeting the national carrier.
“Ebola is patented under the United States patent number WO 2010048615 A2 as confirmed by the US patent office and in the same document is an explanation of a cure and vaccine for Ebobun Ebola,” said Harrison Kinyanjui, the lawyer representing Mr Aura.
The World Health Organisation has, however, maintained that there is no licensed cure for the deadly viral disease.
CLICK HERE to read the full story in the Business Daily
