The government hospital at Kenema was apparently used as part of a research project into Lassa fever sponsored by the US. It has been reported that both USAMRIID and infectious disease specialists at Tulane University were involved.
It would be nice to know what exactly they were doing, and if their research involved any gain-of-function experiments which could have affected the Ebola virus. As I understand it, some virologists believe that by experimenting with mutations that make a virus more virulent, they can produce more effective vaccines.
This approach apparently is quite controversial within the public health community, as many believe that it has the ability to generate a potential pandemic pathogen.
More information about ethical concerns over virus experiments can be found here:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/20/virus-experiments-risk-global-pandemic
Interesting to note that this was reported in May of this year. One has to wonder what prompted the epidemiologists at Harvard and Yale to protest.
I've seen these reports. Troubling, to say the least.
bookmarking
I am at work and will continue researching this as time allows.
And this is of course what they gave to Dr Brantly, though I have not been able to discover if it was murine or chimeric yet.