Remember: last July, Sierra Leone’s health authorities claim to have eradicated Ebola, this epidemic fever which has already caused the death of 11,800 people on the African continent. However, on August 28, 2015, tests carried out on the body of a woman who died at the age of 67 years revealed the presence of the disease. Result: 970 people were quarantined for 21 days, the incubation period of the filovirus.
To permanently eradicate Ebola (28,000 cases since 2013 in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, three neighboring countries), the World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to authorize the use of an experimental vaccine, jointly developed by Canadian and American laboratories. Her name ? VSV-ZEBOV. According to scientists, it would be “100% effective when administered quickly to a person not infected but in contact with sick”.
This epidemic “prevention” technique has a name: ring vaccination. A technique a priori effective, since it was used in the 1970s to eradicate the virus of smallpox. “We have trained 18 members of the Sierra Leonean medical profession: they will be responsible for inoculating the VSV-ZEBOV vaccine to the 7600 adult volunteers selected for the experiment,” explained the WHO professionals. We hope that the ring vaccination will allow us to overcome this epidemic, which has lasted too long. “
Infographic: all you need to know about the Ebola virus.
