Finally get an effective Ebola vaccine

2017/01/10 Agirre Ruiz de Arkaute, Aitziber - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza
• Farmakologia

11,841 people from Guinea participated in the research in 2015. Of these, 5,837 were vaccinated and in the ten days following vaccination no case of Ebola was seen among them. However, 23 cases appeared among those who acted in control mode and did not receive the vaccine.

“Ring vaccination” was used: when an Ebola case was diagnosed, researchers included all people who were in contact with that person during the previous three weeks. Identified 117 groups or “rings” of this type, formed by about 80 people each. This form of vaccination was used in the 1970s to make smallpox disappear and, although complex, this time has also been successful.

rVSV-ZEBOV is a recombinant vaccine based on vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). The virus is able to replicate, but it does not develop any disease, and on its surface they have put the glycoproteins of the Ebola virus to protect it.

Since the Ebola virus was identified in 1976, it has appeared many times in Africa, but the most deadly outbreak was from 2013 to 2016: More than 11,300 deaths in Guinea, where the new vaccine has been tested. WHO officials said they will be prepared to prevent the disease in future. The pharmaceutical company MERK is committed to having 300,000 emergency doses prepared.