{"id":34545,"date":"2017-05-13T17:32:13","date_gmt":"2017-05-13T17:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/will-vaccine-help-curb-new-ebola-outbreak-in-the\/"},"modified":"2017-05-13T17:32:53","modified_gmt":"2017-05-13T17:32:53","slug":"will-vaccine-help-curb-new-ebola-outbreak-in-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/will-vaccine-help-curb-new-ebola-outbreak-in-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Will vaccine help curb new Ebola outbreak in the DRC?"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Ebola has surfaced in a remote part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the first outbreak of the disease since the West African epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people before it came to an end 2 years ago. A vaccine proved its worth in the West African epidemic\u2014which hit major cities\u2014but it still is awaiting approval from regulatory agencies, and the DRC government has yet to request its use for this outbreak. } <\/p>\n

According to a statement issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) today, nine suspected cases have been reported so far, and only one has been confirmed as Ebola. Three of the people have died. The outbreak began 22 April in the Likati Health Zone of the Bas Uele Province, which is in the northern region of the DRC that borders the Central African Republic. WHO notes that it \u201cwas informed\u201d about the cluster of cases 9 May and the confirmation of the one case occurred 2 days later. The Washington Post reports that the confirmed case, the first victim, had to travel by motorbike across the large province to reach a hospital in Likati and that it took 10 days for his blood sample to reach Kinshasa. DRC has no roads that span the country and long-distance travel largely is restricted to river boats and private airplanes.<\/p>\n

Marie-Paule Kieney, an assistant director general at WHO who played a central role during the West African epidemic, says Merck, the maker of the vaccine that appeared to work in a trial held in Guinea in 2015, is ready to provide the product if necessary. \u201cDiscussions are ongoing with the government on whether vaccination should be undertaken or not,\u201d Kieney says. \u201cThe outbreak is very small, so it may be stopped through containment only.\u201d Traditional \u201ccontainment\u201d efforts include isolating and confirming cases, providing protective gear for health care workers, using safe burial procedures, and educating the public about how to reduce their risks.<\/p>\n

One person helping with the response who asked not to be identified said there are now 52 suspected cases\u2014and deep frustration that a decision has yet to be made about whether to use the vaccine. \u201cIf it were up to me I\u2019d already be using it,\u201d the person says. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to dream up a rationale for not using the vaccine as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doctors Without Borders (MSF)\u2014 which led the initial health care response in West Africa\u2014tomorrow plans to send 14 people to Likati, including doctors, nurses, logisticians, water and sanitation experts, health promoters, and an epidemiologist. An MSF statement explains that they will be joined by 10 people from the DRC\u2019s Ministry of Health as well 15 tons of medical and logistical supplies sent by cargo plane from Kinshasa. A spokesperson did not know whether MSF had requested the vaccine for its team.<\/p>\n

Plenty of the Merck vaccine exists, though its experimental status would require what\u2019s known as an \u201cExpanded Access\u201d study protocol to be approved by regulatory bodies before it could be shipped to the DRC. WHO has some 10,000 doses in Geneva, Switzerland, leftover from the West Africa outbreak, sources tell ScienceInsider, and Merck has some 700,000 doses on ice in the United States.<\/p>\n

At a meeting 25\u201327 April by WHO\u2019s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), the experts recommended that the Merck vaccine \u201cbe promptly deployed\u201d if the strain known as Ebola Zaire\u2014which is the virus in the DRC\u2014surfaces. SAGE further suggested that Expanded Access study \u201cbe implemented promptly after the confirmation of a case\u201d and that the vaccine be used in the same \u201cring vaccination\u201d strategy that worked in Guinea, which gave shots to people (including health care workers) who were in close contact with each confirmed case.<\/p>\n

The first documented Ebola outbreak, which occurred in 1976, hit Yambuku in the DRC. The country since has had six other outbreaks, and the worst one was contained with only 315 cases of the highly lethal disease.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n

Source:Science Mag <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Ebola has surfaced in a remote part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the first outbreak of the disease since the West African epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people before it came to an end 2 years ago. A vaccine proved its worth in the West African epidemic\u2014which hit major cities\u2014but it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[99],"byline":[2621],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-34545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-science-mag"],"bylines":[{"id":2621,"name":"Science Mag","slug":"science-mag","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2621,"name":"Science Mag","slug":"science-mag","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34545"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=34545"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=34545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}