Vaccine against Ebola virus should work

Vaccine against Ebola virus should work

08/02/2014

In the fight against the dangerous Ebola epidemic, hope germinates. A vaccine from the US should have achieved positive results in animal experiments. Soon, tests will be done on humans. Time is short, because the number of dead and infected in West Africa is rising rapidly.

Vaccine will soon be tested on humans
In the fight against the dangerous infectious disease Ebola, hope germinates. According to media reports, the US Department of Health (NIH) wants to test for the first time in September a not yet approved vaccine against the pathogen to humans. Like the news channel CNN and the newspaper „USA Today“ report on their website, the vaccine has already shown positive results on monkeys. The National Institute for Infectious Disease Control and the American Drug Licensing Authority are working together to ensure that tests can start as soon as possible.

Risk groups would probably benefit first
Biotech companies and universities have been researching vaccines against the deadly pathogen for a long time. For example, a vaccine with attenuated Ebola virus was developed in Canada. And there are also artificial antibodies that fight the virus. However, all of these substances have not been approved or clinically tested and have not left the stage of animal testing. Greater tests on humans had hitherto been spared because there is too little experience. Even if initial tests on humans are successful, it will certainly take some time to vaccinate larger populations affected by Ebola. Probably the first likely risk groups, such as medical staff would benefit from a vaccine.

No cure for Ebola available
Since no cure is available for the dangerous infectious disease and doctors can only alleviate the typical Ebola symptoms such as fever, diarrhea or internal and external bleeding, a vaccine would be enormously important to save people's lives. In 60 to 90 percent of cases, an infection leads to death. The virus is transmitted through contact with blood or other bodily fluids of those affected or deceased. In contrast, experts exclude transmission through the respiratory air according to the current state of knowledge.

Severe outbreak of the disease in West Africa
Time is short in the face of the most severe outbreak of the disease in West Africa so far. In the most affected countries, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, attempts are being made to contain the epidemic through airport controls, quarantines and assembly prohibitions. Together with the World Health Organization (WHO), the heads of state of the three nations want to discuss how to proceed. WHO is responding to the epidemic with an $ 100 million (€ 74.62 million) emergency program. WHO Director-General Margaret Cha said: „The magnitude of the Ebola outbreak and the associated risks require WHO and the affected countries to give a new quality to their response.“

Ebola may have arrived in the most populous country in Africa
According to official data, at least 729 people have died since February of this year, around 1,300 have been infected. It is also worrying that the disease may have arrived in Lagos (Nigeria). In the most populous country in Africa, according to a report by the Nigerian newspaper „Punch“ Two people infected with the Ebola virus were isolated in a hospital ward and 69 were put under surveillance. The two patients allegedly had contact with a counselor of the Liberian government, who had died of Ebola in a hospital in Lagos this week. The 40-year-old had traveled by plane to the ten million metropolis and collapsed at the airport.

Travel warnings for affected countries
The Foreign Office does not recommend traveling to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The USA has also issued a travel warning for the three African states. For Germany there is no danger. As Professor Stephan Günther from the Hamburg Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine recently announced on the website of the institute, the Ebola virus will become „do not spread in Europe.“ The expert explained: „The virus is difficult to transmit from person to person, so not like cold or flu. You always have to have direct contact with a person or the infectious bodily fluids such as blood, urine, diarrhea.“ (Ad)