…then U.K., Gambia and Mali
 |
| The charity Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF, announced in April it is facing an unprecedented epidemic in terms of the distribution of [Ebola] cases scattered in several locations in Guinea - where the West African outbreak began. (Photo: Kjell Gunnar Beraas/MSF) |
Human trials of an experimental
Ebola vaccine will begin in the United States next week, the website www.wistv.com reported via CNN on August 29.
It reported that Dr. Anthony Fauci,
the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(NIAID), said the first test will be done at the NIAID labs in Bethesda, MD.
“We’re going to start the on the
vaccine here. Then very soon thereafter, they’re going to start in the U.K. and
the U.K. is then going to use sites that we have in Mali and the Gambia,” Fauci
is quoted as saying.
Fauci says the goal is to develop a
vaccine that will prevent humans from contracting Ebola.
What we are talking about is a
vaccine to give to an uninfected person to help prevent them from getting
infected the same way when we were children getting vaccines to protect us from
getting infected, Fauci said according to WISTV.
The experimental vaccine could be
given to healthy volunteers in Britain, Gambia and Mali as early as September,
according to a consortium, which provided funding, the U.S. Cable News Network
(CNN) reports.
The vaccine, which does not contain
infectious virus materials, has showed promise in early tests on primates to
protect them from Ebola without significant adverse effects, the statement
said.
Ebola disease is spreading fast across West
Africa, with neighbouring Senegal being the 5th country to confirm a
case, after Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
Some 1552 people have died of the
disease since its outbreak in Guinea early 2014, according to the World Health
Organisation.
Current cases reaches 3, 069 with 40
per cent occurring in the past three weeks, it added, warning that the number
could reach 20, 000.
Gambia’s Ministry of Health and
Social Welfare has begun sending random text messages that reads: “Ebola is
deadly and has no cure. Avoid shaking hands, contact with infected persons or
dead bodies and always wash hands with soap. Keep Gambia Ebola free.”
Written by Modou S. Joof
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