Conclusions from clinical trials published in the scientific journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
showed that the ChAd3-EBO-Z vaccine against Ebola would be safe and effective in treating this pathology. New trials should allow the doses to be adjusted.
This vaccine tested on 120 volunteers in December 2014 by the Vaud University Hospital Center (CHUV) and the University Medical Policlinic (PMU) in Switzerland would have shown its effectiveness and that it would be without risk for the health of patients.
“All of the safety data collected within six months of the injection show that the vaccine is safe. Subjects experienced local reactions similar to those seen after routine vaccinations. General symptoms such as fever were a little more frequent, ”explains Blaise Genton, who led the trial, in a press release from the CHUV.
Dose to be adjusted for optimal effect
The conclusions of this clinical trial show that the vaccine provides significant immune responses, but the amplitude of which is probably insufficient to hope for maximum protection. “Since no serious side effects were observed, the WHO decided to give a higher dose than those used in Lausanne in the efficacy studies that were subsequently conducted in Africa. »
Tests with this higher dose were conducted in the United States and Mali and revealed sufficient safety and above all responses equivalent to those obtained with another vaccine tested in Geneva, rVSV-ZEBOV. “We can therefore hope that the two vaccines offer sufficient protection to stem future epidemics, but this remains to be demonstrated”, concludes Professor Blaise Genton, in the press release.
Ebola in numbers
The Ebola epidemic which has affected West Africa since December 2013 is the most serious since the identification of the Ebola virus in 1976. In total, it has caused at least 11,300 deaths for 29,000 people affected, a assessment which could even be underestimated according to the WHO. More than 99% of the victims are concentrated in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
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