As the virus ravaged the doctor's body, doctors had a choice. Should Dr. Khan become the first human to receive an untested drug with unproven efficacy and unknown risk?
It was a question they could ask because of a simple quirk of fate. A single dose of the treatment happened to be within reach of that remote field hospital in rural Sierra Leone.
It was a lone sample of the drug called ZMapp, one of apparently only five in the world, brought by the Canadian scientists who helped develop it.
The Canadian team was testing the drug at a field laboratory near the border with Guinea simply to see how it would hold up in the African heat, according to a statement released by Doctors Without Borders.
When they offered it to the physicians treating Dr. Khan, they triggered an unprecedented philosophical debate that was argued across continents, as the virus wreaked its havoc on their colleague and friend.
The drug had never been tested on humans. What if it caused an allergic reaction that killed Dr. Khan?
His blood showed antibodies to the virus, evidence that his own immune system was already in full battle. What if the drug got in the way of that immune response?
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