Ebola vaccines successfully tested in Liberia

Ebola vaccines successfully tested in Liberia

03/29/2015

In Liberia, two large studies on the safety and efficacy of Ebola vaccines have shown positive results. Probably tens of thousands of people could soon be vaccinated. Although the number of new infections has recently been declining, the World Health Organization (WHO) points out that the Ebola epidemic is not over.

Vaccine efficacy studies show positive results
Two large studies on the safety and efficacy of Ebola vaccines have shown positive results in Liberia, West Africa. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) reported this with reference to the interim results of the ongoing tests. According to the APA news agency, studies with a total of 600 participants so far had started in the capital Monrovia at the beginning of February, after the vaccines had been tested in smaller studies for their safety for humans. One can now plan the third phase of the tests, which should lead to the approval of the active ingredients. Tens of thousands of people are expected to participate in West Africa.

„Thankful to the people of Liberia“
According to information, one of the serums cAd3-EBOZ was developed by the British company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in collaboration with the US National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the other, VSV-ZEBOV, by the Canadian Health Authority , The participants were either told to inject one of the active ingredients or a sham preparation, as reported. „We are grateful to the people of Liberia who volunteered to participate in this important clinical trial“, explained NIAID director Anthony Fauci. The results of the tests are encouraging. „Now we need to continue and expand the study to see if these experimental vaccines protect against the Ebola virus and can be used in future epidemics“, so Fauci.

Experts suspect a high number of unreported cases
Encouraging is also a message from England. There, a British Ebola patient was cured with experimental drug. So far, there is neither an approved vaccine nor a safe cure for the infectious disease. In patients, only the typical Ebola symptoms can be treated. As a result, medicines that are not officially approved for treatment are used again and again. Also in neighboring Guinea, a test was started a few days ago with a vaccine also from Canada. The West African countries most affected by the disease, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, have so far killed more than 10,200 people in the virus, according to WHO data. Although the number of new infections has been declining recently, the epidemic is not over yet, the WHO warned. Experts believe that the number of unreported cases is probably much higher. (Ad)