Osong public health and research perspectives
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Osong Public Health Res Perspect · Dec 2014
Ebola hemorrhagic Fever and the current state of vaccine development.
Current Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa already reached the total number of 1,323 including 729 deaths by July 31st. the fatality is around 55% in the southeastern area of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria. The number of patients with Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever (EHF) was continuously increasing even though the any effective therapeutics or vaccines has not been developed yet. ⋯ Even though the attenuated live vaccine and DNA vaccine containing Ebola viral genes were tested and showed efficacy in chimpanzees, those candidates still need clinical tests requiring much longer time than the preclinical development to be approved for the practical treatment. It can be expected to eradicate Ebola virus by a safe and efficient vaccine development similar to the case of smallpox virus which was extinguished from the world by the variola vaccine.