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posted by martyb on Thursday November 14 2019, @06:54AM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-not-hyperbole dept.

According to Bruce Lee of Forbes magazine, the world now has an actual vaccine effective against Ebola.

It's official. We now have a real Ebola vaccine. Not a kind-of-almost-sort-of-there vaccine. Not an experimental-use vaccine. Not a vaccine just for macaques. No, this is a vaccine that the European Commission has just approved for use in humans, the first of its kind.

It is worth noting that there are four variants of Ebola that infect humans, however the one this vaccine "Ervebo" is effective against is the deadly Zaire Ebola virus.

Ervebo is a genetically engineered, replication-competent, attenuated live vaccine. Data from clinical trials and compassionate use programs have shown that Ervebo protects against Ebola virus disease in humans following a single dose administration.

The vaccine has been tested on approximately 16,000 people so far with very good results

Health officials have been using the vaccine on an experimental basis to try to control Ebola outbreaks that have been going on in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) [...] the war-torn DRC hasn't been the easiest place to test the vaccine:

Nevertheless, researchers managed to test the efficacy of the vaccine in the country. As the WHO reported in April, this vaccine had an estimated protective efficacy of 97.5% in field studies there. That would mean if a hundred people vaccinated were exposed to the virus, less than three would end up getting infected. That's a remarkably high efficacy. After all, nothing in life is 100%. However, keep in mind that the efficacy of a vaccine also depends on how many people around you are vaccinated

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing Merck's application for approval of the vaccine.

Related Coverage
Two Effective Treatments for Ebola Announced


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  • (Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday November 14 2019, @04:59PM (6 children)

    by Bot (3902) on Thursday November 14 2019, @04:59PM (#920405) Journal

    Smallpox vaccines happened in a different era.

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Freeman on Thursday November 14 2019, @05:23PM (5 children)

    by Freeman (732) on Thursday November 14 2019, @05:23PM (#920415) Journal

    Yet, it's probably the best thing to compare Ebola with.

    Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by one of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor.[7] The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977 and the World Health Organization (WHO) certified the global eradication of the disease in 1980.[10] The risk of death following contracting the disease was about 30%, with higher rates among babies.[6][11] Often those who survived had extensive scarring of their skin and some were left blind.[6]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox [wikipedia.org]

    Ebola virus disease (EVD), also known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) or simply Ebola, is a viral hemorrhagic fever of humans and other primates caused by ebolaviruses.[1] Signs and symptoms typically start between two days and three weeks after contracting the virus with a fever, sore throat, muscular pain, and headaches.[1] Vomiting, diarrhea and rash usually follow, along with decreased function of the liver and kidneys.[1] At this time, some people begin to bleed both internally and externally.[1] The disease has a high risk of death, killing 25% to 90% of those infected, with an average of about 50%.[1] This is often due to low blood pressure from fluid loss, and typically follows 6 to 16 days after symptoms appear.[2]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease [wikipedia.org]

    Ebola has similar, if not a much risk of death, when compared with smallpox. Saying that we shouldn't contain / eradicate Ebola is insane, even though we have a vaccine. Who knows how effective the new Ebola vaccine actually is. The Smallpox vaccine was 95% effective and had 1%-2% serious side effects. I would be quite happy, if we could eradicate Ebola as we did with Smallpox.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday November 14 2019, @05:26PM

      by Freeman (732) on Thursday November 14 2019, @05:26PM (#920418) Journal

      That was supposed to be "much higher risk of death".

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday November 14 2019, @05:36PM (3 children)

      by Freeman (732) on Thursday November 14 2019, @05:36PM (#920425) Journal

      The topic lead me off in a tangent of looking up smallpox vaccines. The delivery method leaves something to be desired. Emphasis mine.

      ACAM2000 is a smallpox vaccine developed by Acambis. It was approved for use in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 31 August 2007.
      [...]
      A droplet of ACAM2000 is administered by the percutaneous route (scarification) using 15 jabs of a bifurcated needle. ACAM2000 should not be injected by the intradermal, subcutaneous, intramuscular, or intravenous route.[17]

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox_vaccine [wikipedia.org]

      The bifurcated needle is a narrow steel rod, approximately 2.5 inches (6 cm) long with two prongs at one end. It was designed to hold one dose of reconstituted freeze-dried smallpox vaccine between its prongs.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bifurcated_needle [wikipedia.org]

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday November 15 2019, @02:27AM (2 children)

        by Reziac (2489) on Friday November 15 2019, @02:27AM (#920588) Homepage

        In my generation, everyone had that smallpox vaccine scar, usually on the right shoulder and about half an inch across. We regarded it as a sign of civilization.

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        • (Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Friday November 15 2019, @06:18PM (1 child)

          by Osamabobama (5842) on Friday November 15 2019, @06:18PM (#920743)

          My older brother has such a scar, but I do not, as the vaccine was phased out between our vaccine schedule dates. However, I received the vaccine more recently as a member of the military. I didn't develop a scar.

          I didn't count the number of bifurcated needle jabs I got, though.

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          • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday November 15 2019, @08:03PM

            by Reziac (2489) on Friday November 15 2019, @08:03PM (#920778) Homepage

            You must be a young'un, then. P)

            My sister's scar is about half the size of mine (being old standard type), and she got hers 6 or 7 years later (1964?); I remember being told the reason was "now with fewer needles!"

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