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An Ebola vaccine has provided 100 percent protection in a field trial in Guinea, researchers and officials said earlier today, Friday, 31st July, 2015. The world is “on the verge of an effective Ebola vaccine,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said, hailing the results from the first efficacy test of the VSV-ZEBOV vaccine among people living in a high-danger zone. “This is an extremely promising development,” added WHO Chief, Margaret Chan. VSV-ZEBOV may become the first licensed vaccine against the disease for which there is also no approved treatment or cure. The trial showed that the vaccine “offers 100 percent protection against Ebola after roughly one week,” said researcher, Sven Trelle from the University of Bern. The test, backed by drug firm, Merck, the WHO and the governments of Canada, Norway and Guinea, saw 4,123 high-risk people vaccinated immediately after someone close to them fell ill with the deadly haemorrhagic fever. None of the vaccinated group caught the virus, according to study results published in The Lancet medical journal. A second comparison group of 3,528 people received the vaccine only three weeks after potential exposure. Sixteen of them contracted the virus, said the study, but by day six after immunisation, the remainder of this group were also fully protected. “Indeed, no vaccinee developed symptoms more than six days after vaccination, irrespective of whether vaccination was immediate or delayed,” said the study paper.   Source: Vanguard Newspaper
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This article was first published on 31st July 2015

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Ejura Salihu is an Anatomist, Writer and Editor. She is currently the Editor-in-chief for Connect Nigeria. You can contact her via email: ejurasalihu24@gmail.com or follow her on twitter @icyquin_msc

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