dufus Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 The effort to contain the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo received a boost on Tuesday with news that an experimental vaccine can be used to combat the deadly virus. Dr. Peter Salama, the World Health Organization’s deputy director general for emergencies, said the latest outbreak, in North Kivu Province, involves the Zaire strain of the virus. That is the same strain as in the previous outbreak, 1,500 miles away in Équateur Province, which was officially declared over on July 24. The experimental vaccine helped to contain that outbreak. There had been some concern that the vaccine might not work if the virus in North Kivu was a different strain. But Dr. Salama said in a Twitter posting that laboratory testing showed otherwise, and that health workers can start administering the vaccine as early as Wednesday. Results of genetic analysis from INRB #DRC just in: #Ebola Zaire confirmed, sequencing does not demonstrate close linkages with Equateur outbreak strain. What does this mean? 1. Confirms this is a new outbreak 2. We can start using rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine as early as tomorrow pic.twitter.com/salseHZts2 — Peter Salama (@PeteSalama) August 7, 2018 The vaccine, tested in 2016 during the waning days of the Ebola epidemic that ravaged West Africa, was declared 100 percent effective. Dr. Salama’s announcement signaled some optimism about defeating the North Kivu outbreak, even though it has presented special challenges because the area is essentially a war zone, mired in armed conflicts and home to one million displaced people. The North Kivu outbreak was confirmed on July 28, a week after the Équateur outbreak ended. Forty-three cases have been reported in North Kivu, including 34 deaths, according to the World Health Organization’s latest update. More than 900 people have been screened for possible contact with Ebola carriers. Thirty World Health Organization staff members are in North Kivu, and Dr. Salama and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organization’s director general, will travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday. Ebola, a highly infectious disease that causes hemorrhaging, fever, bloody vomiting and diarrhea, has five subtypes. The Zaire strain is the most common and deadliest form. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/world/africa/congo-ebola-vaccine.html https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-ebola-congo-who/latest-congo-ebola-outbreak-is-zaire-strain-vaccinations-to-start-idUKKBN1KS1OF President Donald Trump moved to cut the money the same week the current Ebola outbreak was announced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-walks-back-ebola-funding-cut_us_5b183d68e4b0599bc6dffd4d?guccounter=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luisam Posted August 8, 2018 Share Posted August 8, 2018 Hopefully, vaccination will stp this ebola outbreak. Also, after having developed a vaccine for current strain, let's hope that developing upgrades of it for a different strain might have a working shortcut. Now, the most dramatic issue is that an ebola outbreak might have 50, 100 or even 500 fatal victims. The unending civil war in Congo is taking the lifes of hundreds of thousands civilians, chasing and coercing them to leave homes ending in refugee camps and taking away the future from current generations. How much of the budget assignes to improve healt conditions ends in hands of the warlords just to buy armament and mantain private armies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dufus Posted August 8, 2018 Author Share Posted August 8, 2018 WHO prepares experimental Ebola vaccine for possible first use in Democratic Republic of Congo https://www.statnews.com/2017/05/16/ebola-drc-vaccine/ Ebola Virus Disease and Ebola Vaccines https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/ebola-virus-disease-and-ebola-vaccines Millions of Ebola vaccine doses by end of 2015, WHO says https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29756301 Gates Foundation Joins New $460 Million Coalition for Vaccines https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-18/gates-foundation-joins-new-460-million-coalition-for-vaccines never let good crisis go to waste Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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