The following article was published in the September 29, 2014 issue of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

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Sarasota company contributing to — and looking for help — Ebola fight

Amid the many global crises today, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa is perhaps the most frightening.

Easily spread. Incurable. Fatal to roughly half those who contract it.

Deaths linked to the disease have passed 3,000, according to a WHO toll published Friday.

One Sarasota company thinks it can help.

Biolife LLC is donating 5,000 applications of its WoundSeal product to health workers treating Ebola victims in West Africa and has set a goal to donate 80,000 additional applications to charity through a retail promotion.

The virus, which can cause unstoppable bleeding, is spread through direct contact with a sick person’s blood or body fluid. So, with open wounds, the virus is easily spread. And bandages and gauze do not immediately stop or seal a bleeding wound.

But WoundSeal — a boon to elderly people with thin skin and available at CVS, Walgreens and RiteAid — is a powder that almost instantly seals wounds and stops bleeding. With bleeding contained at the source, health care workers can address other conditions to help contain the virus and help people survive, the company says.

For this reason, Biolife is donating the 5,000 WoundSeal applications to Matthew 25: Ministries, an organization helping those in need in Liberia.

“WoundSeal will decrease the risk of exposure to contagion for health workers, family and the populace, said Dr. Louis M. Guzzi, who the company says is a leading critical care physician in Orlando.

The first applications are being shipped to Liberia and should arrive in two and a half to three weeks, said Tim Mettey, CEO of Ohio-based Matthew 25: Ministries.

It is part of a container of food and other supplies put together in an ongoing effort to help the country largely paralysed by the disease, Mettey said.

More is needed.

So through Oct. 30, for every package of WoundSeal Biolife that is sold at a store or at www.woundseal.com, the company will donate four applications to charities helping with the crisis in West Africa, said Andrew McFall, Biolife vice president.