As the Ebola outbreak continues to ravage West Africa affecting 1,700 individuals and causing the death of more than 900 as of Aug. 4, it is evident that there is a dire need for a medicine that can treat this deadly disease.
Unfortunately, no treatment is yet available to fight the Ebola virus and all that health care providers could do is provide supportive care that could help increase the chances of survival of those struck by the hemorrhagic fever.
A vaccine that could give protection against the Ebola virus, however, could be good enough in putting an end to the ebola crisis that already threatens other countries such as the U.S., which currently cares for Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol who were struck by the deadly virus while helping infected patients in Liberia.
Because of the Ebola outbreak, U.S. health regulators have green-lighted experimental Ebola vaccines for fast-track approval status. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Anthony Fauci said that there are vaccines that are currently being tested, with one designed by the National Institutes of Health's Vaccine Research Center, likely to become available earlier than the others as the vaccine has already been tested on monkeys with impressive results.
Fauci said that the phase 1 clinical trials of the vaccine is anticipated to start in late September and will run until January next year. The trials will involve giving the vaccine to humans to evaluate whether it is safe for use or not and to determine if it induces protective response, which means it initiates the production of antibodies that prevent the Ebola virus from attaching itself to or entering the cells of the body. The researchers infected the primates that were used in animal tests with the Ebola virus to evaluate the effectiveness of the drug. Human subjects, however, will not be infected.
Once the vaccine is proven safe and found to prompt protective response, researchers will proceed to larger clinical trials and eventually to the production of the vaccine. The first batch of the vaccine will likely be given to healthcare providers who work with Ebola patient as they have the highest risks of contracting the disease.
"It's difficult to vaccinate an entire population because you don't know who's going to be at risk because you don't know where an outbreak is going to be," Fauci said. "But when you have health care workers who are putting themselves in clear and present danger of getting infected, those are the ones you want to protect."
Other companies that are developing ebola vaccines include the Crucell biopharmaceutical and Profectus Biosciences.
