Breakthrough Ebola vaccine proves 'highly protective'

[TexasTowelie]

GENEVA, Switzerland, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- An experimental Ebola vaccine proved to be 100 percent effective in eradicating the deadly disease when used in a major clinical trial in Guinea, researcher said Friday.

The vaccine, not yet approved by regulatory authorities, is the first created to stop the deadly pathogen. An emergency stockpile of 300,000 doses have been created to fend off a flare up of the virus. The vaccine was studied with 11,841 people in Guinea during 2015. Of the 5,837 people who received the vaccine, no Ebola cases were recorded 10 days or more after vaccination.

"While these compelling results come too late for those who lost their lives during West Africa's Ebola epidemic, they show that when the next Ebola outbreak hits, we will not be defenseless," said Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, the World Health Organization's assistant director-general for health systems and innovation, and the study's lead author.

Since Ebola was first identified in 1976, thousands of people have died, including more than 11,300 people from 2013 to 2016.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2016/12/24/Breakthrough-Ebola-vaccine-proves-highly-protective/5431482593773/?spt=hs&or=hn

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Good news.

I still feel like the world dodged a bullet, there, a couple years ago.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. This vaccine also apparently has some pretty serious side effects,

which means only those who are at genuine risk for Ebola could even consider taking it.

Perhaps in the future a better vaccine will be developed.

The other thing to keep firmly in mind about Ebola is that it is not that easily transmitted. Remember that unfortunate man in Texas a couple of years ago who returned from Africa infected with Ebola? None of the people who lived with him got it. And they were (unnecessarily in my opinion) kept locked in that apartment after he was removed to the hospital, unable to leave, and keeping company with the bed linens he'd been using.

Ebola, while genuinely terrible and while it needs to be dealt with, is not a disease that will kill millions.