About

Zmapp-chan (ジーマップちゃん/Zマップちゃん/Zmappちゃん) is a female anime-style character designed as the anthropomorphic representation of ZMapp, an experimental biopharmaceutical drug developed as a treatment for Ebola virus disease. Similar to its more generically named precursor Cure-chan, Zmapp-chan is typically portrayed as the enemy of Ebola-chan.

Origin

The ZMapp vaccine is a vaccine developed and manufactured by American pharmaceutical company Mapp Biopharmaceutical. Made from the the tobacco plant Nicotinana benthamaiana, the drug is most prominently known as the vaccine against Ebola to be widely tested on patients during the 2014 Ebola West African outbreak. While the backstory behind the creation of the character remains murky, some of the earliest known moe-style illustrations of "Zmapp-chan" can be found on the Facebook fan page, launched on October 4th , 2014.^[1]

Spread

In the following month, dozens of fan art illustrations dedicated to ZMapp-chan emerged through the Facebook page, as well as on deviantART^[3] and Tumblr^[4], right alongside the development of its generic counterpart Cure-chan. On December 3rd, YouTuber OkatuMOE uploaded a short story titled "EBOLA-CHAN vs. ZMAPP-CHAN,"^[5] which brought a new level of exposure to the anthropomorphic character (shown below). That same day, a link to the YouTube video was posted on 8chan's /ebola/ board.^[6]

Various Examples

External References