Human trials of the Ebola vaccine started this week in the US and will extend to the UK and Africa. The first patient, a 39-year-old woman, was given the vaccine last week as human trials got under way.
Vaccinated monkeys have developed "long-term" immunity to the Ebola virus, raising a prospect of successful human trials, say scientists. The experiments by the US National Institutes of Health showed immunity could last at least 10 months.
The World Health Organisation says more than 2,000 people have now died in the outbreak in West Africa.
The World Health Organisation says more than 2,000 people have now died in the outbreak in West Africa.
Several experimental treatments are now being considered to help contain the spread of Ebola. This includes a vaccine being developed by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.
TITLE>>>>>>FORBIDDEN
CONTINUED FROM YESTERDAY
....cathedral. They are all big and ripe and nobody goes there to pluck because the Whiteman has lied to the pupils that it was the forbidden fruits," Tanko explained. "Forbidden fruits?" Garba asked. Tanko had heard about the story of the Whiteman telling the pupils that the oranges behind the cathedral were the forbidden fruits and that if anyone went there to pluck any, he would face consequences from God like Adam and Eve. The pupils all believed and kept away from the tree. "Yes, that is what the master says but one day Bawa told me he had seen the Whiteman plucking the oranges one early morning and that it was just a he he told us," Tanko said. "So you boys went to pluck the oranges?" Sule asked. "Not immediately, I had to be sure myself Every morning, we would wake up and sneak to the cathedral and hide there and watch till day light. Five days later, I found out that Bawa was right. Mr Jacobs came along and plucked the fruits. I was shocked. So after he had gone, we went to pluck. They were sweet and very ripe," Tanko said. "Can we go to get some?" Garba asked. Tanko laughed. "If you are caught, six strokes of the cane on your bare buttocks," Tanko said. But I can't believe this," Sule said. "Does it mean the master has been lying to us? And come to think ..... TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW...JOIN US TOMORROW FOR MORE ON THIS FUNNY AND EXCITING STORY }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
It uses a genetically modified chimp virus containing components of two species of Ebola – Zaire, which is currently circulating in West Africa, and the common Sudan species. The viral vaccine does not replicate inside the body, but it is hoped the immune system will react to the Ebola component of the vaccine and develop immunity.
Animal research, on which the decision to begin human trials was based, has now been published in the journal Nature Medicine. It shows four crab-eating macaques all survived what would have been a fatal dose of Ebola virus five weeks later.
However, only half survived an infection 10 months after immunisation. Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci, told the BBC:
"The good part of this vaccine is that at five weeks or earlier you get full protection.
"The sobering news is the durability isn't great, but if you give a boost, a second shot, you make it really durable."
"We knew this worked in the monkey months ago and based on this paper we started human trials."
For now this is the best evidence available on how successful such a vaccine would be in people. There will also be separate trials of the vaccine against just the Zaire Ebola species. These will take place in the US, the University of Oxford in the UK as well as in Mali and Gambia.
The WHO said safety data would be ready by November 2014 and, if the vaccine proved safe, it would be used in West Africa immediately. Healthcare workers and other frontline staff would be prioritised for vaccination. The number of doses currently available is between 400 – if a lot of vaccine is needed for immunity – and 4,000 if smaller amounts are sufficient.
As with all experimental therapies, the WHO has warned hopes of a vaccine must not detract from the proven methods of infection control which have defeated all previous outbreaks. Prof Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham, said: "This is really encouraging data.
"The degree of protection seen with the chimpanzee adenovirus alone – which will be used in one of the human clinical trials planned for the UK, Mali and the Gambia – was still pretty impressive, especially when the animals received Ebola virus within a few weeks of vaccination.
"This is important as it would keep the dosing regimen simple and could still provide good protection in the sort of outbreak that we are seeing in Western Africa at the moment."
No comments:
Post a Comment