A Vaccine Against The Ebola Virus Possibly Found

Random News - The World Health Organization has successfully tested a vaccine against the Ebola virus in Guinea. Already in 2018 the funds could be approved.

In Canada researchers have found an "almost one hundred percent" effective vaccine against the infectious disease Ebola. The vaccine rVSV-Zebov, developed in Canadian laboratories, was successfully tested last year in Guinea, West Africa, as Marie-Paule Kieny of the World Health Organization (WHO) reported. The funds could possibly be approved already in 2018.

A Liberian health worker talks to a family in an isolation station in Monrovia, Liberia. Photo:John Moore/Getty Images

Of the 6,000 people vaccinated with rVSV-Zebov, no one fell ill with Ebola last year. On the other hand, there were 23 Ebola infections in the control group with non-vaccinated humans, according to the scientists described in the specialist magazine The Lancet. (Also read: Mexico Fireworks Market Explosion)

"This suggests that the vaccine is very efficient and could achieve 100% effectiveness," said Kieny, WHO's representative. Their research team calculated a 90 percent chance that the vaccine would protect 80 percent of the vaccine population during an acute epidemic.

The US researcher Thomas Beisbert was also convinced by the new media in a commentary in The Lancet. "After 40 years, it seems that we now have an effective vaccine against Ebola disease," he wrote.

The vaccine was first developed by the Canadian health authorities, later the US company Merck took over. The pharmaceutical company plans to obtain approval of the vaccine in the fast trial and to launch it in the USA and Europe in 2018. Usually ten years or more may pass before a new product is approved.

In return for the fast-track procedure, Merck has secured 300,000 doses of the vaccine for emergencies. The company will be able to produce one million vaccine doses "in a very short period of time," Kieny said. However, there are still open questions such as possible side effects. According to the study, only two of the 6,000 subjects showed serious side effects, but both recovered completely. In addition to its duration, it is also unclear whether the vaccine is safe for small children and pregnant women. (Also read: Unhealthy Nails)

The new vaccine provides protection against Ebola shortly after administration, "but we do not know if it will last six months," said Kieny of the WHO. Other vaccines, of which two doses are administered three weeks apart, may provide longer protection against Ebola. The WHO representative also noted that vaccines for other Ebola virus strains, such as in Sudan, had to be developed.

In Guinea, the most deadly Ebola epidemic had broken out in December 2013 since the disease was discovered in 1976. It spread to the neighboring countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia; there were also individual cases in Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. According to WHO, there were a total of 28,000 registered cases and about 11,300 death victims. However, many experts assume higher victim numbers. (Also read: Zsa Zsa Gabor In Memorial)

Ebola is highly contagious as soon as patients have symptoms of the disease such as fever, pain, vomiting or diarrhea. The disease can lead to organ failure and internal bleeding. It is transferred by body fluids, the incubation period is up to three weeks.