carried over from the subject to permafrost
Unlike you, Janic reads ALL of the article, and what does it say? Clearly another publicity effect as it comes out regularly to attract subsidies.
This time, there is a vaccine against the Ebola virus The rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine is expected to debut in the Ebola virus epidemic in the DRC. On condition, however, of overcoming the challenges linked to its transport and conservation in regions inaccessible by plane or car, often without electricity in the middle of the jungle
History repeats itself, and that of the Ebola virus is the perfect illustration. Since the discovery of the virus in 1976 in Zaire (...) scientific research has been undertaken to develop a vaccine but is ultimately abandoned for lack of resources. The ninth documented appearance of the virus, which has occurred in recent weeks in 39 suspected cases and which has already claimed the lives of 19 people, therefore seems deja-vu. Except that this time, notable difference, there is a vaccine! For the first time, the health agencies of the DRC could deploy a remedy, the rVSV-ZEBOV (or VSV-EBOV), initially developed by the Agence de la Public Health Canada, licensed by Merck Laboratories.
Read also: Ebola vaccine tested at HUG obtains good results in Guinea
Tested in several places in the world, notably at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), it had demonstrated its capacity to trigger, without danger, the production by the organism of antibodies directed against the Ebola virus during clinical trials of phases I and II, performed in healthy volunteers. [*]
Encouraging results (sic) which logically led to conducting phase III trials, on a larger scale and in people in contact with the virus. The rVSV-ZEBOV had then demonstrated an efficacy of around 75 to 100% in 7651 people according to the review The Lancet. Figures not obtained against placebo, for obvious ethical reasons, but during a so-called belt vaccination campaign, in which people who came into direct contact with a diagnosed patient, as well as their own contacts (i.e. two degrees of separation) were vaccinated. [*] [*]
Although there is every reason to believe this, we are not yet certain that this vaccine will also work in this situation
Laurent Kaiser, virologist
Another large clinical trial later in Guinea was conducted with 5837 people meeting these contact criteria and concludes with an 100% efficacy rate, with no case of Ebola occurring within 10 days the vaccination. In the process, a stock of 300 000 doses of rVSV-ZEBOV was set up in the event of a new outbreak thanks to the support of Gavi Alliance, a Geneva-based organization that works to provide access to the poorest countries fast to expensive treatments.
Despite the effectiveness and availability of the vaccine, caution is advised. "It remains to be confirmed whether these 39 cases are indeed Ebola cases," says Laurent Kaiser, virologist at HUG. There are many infectious diseases in the region that cause similar symptoms. And although the viruses of 2014 and 2018 belong to the same strain "Zaire", there is no guarantee for the moment the success of the vaccine. “In 2015, clinical trials took place during a single study in Guinea, at the end of the epidemic and therefore after the emergency. Although there is every reason to believe it, we are not yet sure that this vaccine will also work in this situation, "said the doctor.
Storage at -80 ° C
It is for this reason that rVSV-ZEBOV does not currently have any marketing authorization in the usual sense of the term. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed an experimental protocol that has just been validated by the health authorities and ethics committees of the DRC, written in an email to Le Temps Tarik Jasarevic, spokesperson for the WHO. This green light will lead to a temporary authorization to market the rVSV-ZEBOV, for a so-called compassionate use. [*] [*] [*]
Example in Ikoko Ipenge, a village where two cases occurred on May 13, and which is only connected to Bikoro, where WHO installed a 15-bed care center and a mobile laboratory, only after a difficult journey by motorbike about thirty kilometers through the jungle. As for Bikoro Airport, it is too poorly maintained to use it. "This is going to be complicated and expensive," said Peter Salama, director of the WHO Emergency Management Program, at a press conference in Geneva on May 11.
Even if the logistics would be ideal and the vaccine ready in the field, the belt vaccination campaign is no easy task: epidemiologists, data specialists and other health personnel must document the progression of the epidemic , trace all the patient's contacts, at two degrees of separation, in the three weeks preceding the diagnosis. A delicate detective work essential to the success of such a vaccine strategy. "The vaccine can change the situation, but it will not be enough in itself: it takes a whole mobilization of communities and health personnel without forgetting to implement preventive actions", concludes Laurent Kaiser.
[*] any introduction of any product into an organism causes antibody production. Does the author of these articles ignore him?
Then on healthy carriers as if it was a demonstration of efficiency in patients.
[*] [*] history repeats history every time and it resembles, to be mistaken, the WHO report on smallpox which concludes that "despite some successes in some countries, it was a failure in general"
[*] [*] [*] There it reminds, the H1N1 with all the circus that accompanied him and the simulacrum of vaccination Bachelot.
"We make science with facts, like making a house with stones: but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a pile of stones is a house" Henri Poincaré