Ebola Vacine Trials: New Vaccine Protects People In West Africa, Say New Report

by Benson Agoha | Health

In Guinea trial, zero cases of virus occurred in people potentially exposed who received immediate shots

PROTECTIVE JAB:  A study of more than 7,000 people in Guinea

shows that an Ebola vaccine guards against the lethal virus.

(Credit: via Science News).

As the first large field trials of a new vacine for Ebola returns good news, countries at the highest risk of infection must finally heave a new sigh of relief.

In its last large scale outbreak, virus killed thousands of people in Liberia and Sierra Leone, with slightly smaller cases of infection reported in Guinea and Nigeria where, it was quickly controlled. Liberia and Sierra Leone have been cleared of the virus by the WHO, but intermittent outbreaks are still reported in Guinea.

According to the latest report on Science News, the first large test of an Ebola vaccine in the field shows strong protection against the lethal virus.

Electron micrograph of an Ebola virus virion

It means that, with the epidemic in West Africa now in retreat, the shot might hasten disease elimination in Guinea, which still has cases cropping up.

Speaking of the field trials, Thomas Geisbert, an immunologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston said: “This is a huge advance in the Ebola field,” adding. “It’s been 10 years, but we’re finally getting it into people,” Science reported Friday.

Ebola's, a dangerous and deadly virus that mutates, was first reported in Zaire in 1976. There has been an outbreak of this deadly strain called  "ZEBOV", which kills at the rate of up 90% - with an average rate of approximately 83%, over 27 years, more than any other strain.

Other strains include the Sudan strain SUDV, with an average reported fatality rate of 54% in 1976, 68% in 1979, and 53% in 2000 and 2001.

The Reston ebolavirus (RESTV strain), found in Reston, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Siena, Italy, Philipines. Found in animals, RESTV did not cause disease in exposed human laboratory workers.

The Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BDBV strain) found in Uganda in November 24, 2007 made the World Health Organization to confirm the presence of the new species of ebola which killed 39 people. It had a mortality rate of 34%.

With the discovery of a vaccine which uses a live virus called vesicular stomatitis that causes only mild infection in humans, Geisbert and virologist Heinz Feldmann of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases might have developed the lasting cure that will finally bring hope to the West African Countries that have been highest at risk.

The new vacine " contains an Ebola glycoprotein that cannot cause disease but does trigger immunity" said Science News.

* Read the full story here >> Ebola vaccine protects people in West Africa.