The World Health Organization has announced the end of the Ebola epidemic in Liberia. For the first time, West Africa no longer has any cases.
Liberia is officially free from Ebola. The World Health Organization (WHO) has just declared the end of the epidemic in this country and throughout West Africa this Thursday, January 14, 2016. This advert comes after a period of 42 days – twice the incubation period of the virus – without a new case. This is the first time that Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone – the 3 most affected countries – have been declared Ebola free at the same time. And all hope to see the end of the unprecedented epidemic that has resulted in 28,637 cases and killed 11,315 people.
Despite this good news, the WHO remains cautious. She recalls that a period of reinforced surveillance of 90 days starts today. If an Ebola case is detected by April, then the whole process will have to be started all over again.
A scenario that Liberia is familiar with. The country most severely affected by the epidemic – 4,809 dead – knows how great the threat of residual cases is. While in May 2015, Liberia was declared free from Ebola for the first time, the virus reappeared twice in June and then in November.
Risk of resurgence in survivors
The emergence of these new cases was partly linked to sexual transmission. Ebola survivors remain, in fact, carriers of the virus for several months, especially in semen. “We are at a critical juncture in the epidemic as we take care of the remaining patients and try to contain the risks of residual infections,” said Dr Bruce Aylward, WHO Director-General’s Special Representative for the Response to Ebola. The risk of a resurgence decreases as the virus is cleared from the body of survivors. Nonetheless, we remain on our guard and prepare for outbreaks. A massive effort is underway to strengthen prevention, surveillance and the response capacity of the 3 countries before the end of March.
In addition to the risk of a new outbreak, many concerns but also questions surround the survivors of Ebola. The latter suffer from sequelae, sometimes serious, such as joint pain, visual disturbances or hearing loss, as shown in a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases end of December 2015. It also appears that the virus can “wake up” after months of sleep and cause meningitis or uveitis.
If the end of the epidemic takes place in 2016, this year will also be an opportunity to strengthen the health systems weakened by Ebola so that they are ready to respond in the event of a recurrence, but also to continue the search for treatments, vaccines and rapid diagnostic tests.
Russia has reportedly developed effective vaccines against Ebola
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unexpected announcement: Russia has reportedly developed two vaccines against the Ebola virus. The president did not disclose their names, or introduce the research teams who worked on their design. He also didn’t give details of the clinical trials, if of course there were. Because, to date, no Russian team is known to be involved in the development of a vaccine.
Vladimir Poutine however affirmed to have patented one of them “after the tests carried out revealed a very great effectiveness, much more important than those of the vaccines used until now”.
Remember that currently no vaccine is marketed since all are under development and are the subject of clinical trials in West Africa and the West. The most promising, the VSV EBOV, was developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada.