Ebola Canada offers WHO unproven vaccine

Experimental vaccine to be used to fight the Ebola epidemic

08/13/2014

Given the dramatic magnitude of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) has opted, inter alia, for the use of an experimental Ebola vaccine from Canada, according to the news agency's latest news release „Reuters“. The drug has so far only been successfully tested on monkeys, clinical trials in humans are still pending. Nevertheless, the drug should now be used for preventive treatment in the wake of the Ebola epidemic.

Canada provides 800 to 1,000 doses of the experimental vaccine to the World Health Organization, the news agency reports „Reuters“ citing the Canadian Health Minister Rona Amborse. A larger amount of the vaccine would be available in four to six months. First, the medical staff should be provided with the new vaccine. Given the increased Ebola infections of treating physicians, nurses and other medical aides, effective protection seems to be most needed. Also, people with basic medical knowledge can better assess the risks of the experimental vaccine, so that their use is less ethically questionable. Nonetheless, WHO is still narrowing the use of untreated drugs. Seriously ill patients serve as a kind of test object for the new active ingredients. On the other hand, it is difficult to just let people die, although possibly a vaccine or drug cure would be possible.

Ebola epidemic out of control
Balancing the risk-benefit balance, WHO has opted for the use of certain experimental, non-fully tested drugs due to the spread of the Ebola epidemic. Because the increasing extent of the epidemic causes considerable concern for the experts. Just two months ago, the aid organization had „Doctors Without Borders“ pointed out that the Ebola epidemic was out of control. Since then, the number of infected and fatalities has increased dramatically. To date, the WHO has registered 1,013 deaths and an end to the epidemic is not foreseeable. For a long time, only the West African states of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia were affected, and the epidemic has meanwhile reached Nigeria. Three deaths have occurred so far, all of which were brought in connection with an infected traveler from Liberia. Further spread within Nigeria is to be feared.

New drugs in the fight against Ebola
For WHO, the magnitude of the epidemic last weekend was the reason for the international health emergency. On Tuesday, the World Health Organization finally decided to allow the use of unproven drugs. She refers especially to the said vaccine from Canada and the active ingredient „zmapp“, which, as antibody serum, attacks the ebolaviruses in the body and has been significantly linked to the rescue of an infected US medical doctor. (Fp)