New Ebola Vaccine, Drug Trials to Start in West Africa

Scientists will start the first large-scale tests of Ebola vaccine, one developed in the USA and one developed in Canada, on people in West Africa within a few weeks, announced U.S. authorities on Thursday. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease said that scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would partner with the Liberian government to launch a clinical trial of two vaccines.

The Sierra Leone government will work with researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to test one of the vaccines.

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will work with the government of Sierra Leone to test one of the vaccines.

An effective Ebola vaccine could help to control the current outbreak and could be lifesaving in future outbreaks.

Beyond vaccines, NIH doctors will work with Liberia to test the experimental treatment drug Zmapp. The drug has been given to several Ebola patients but has never been formally tested in humans, officials say. The studies will be conducted in the USA and Liberia.

According to the World Health Organization, Ebola has infected 21,759 people and killed 8,668, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

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Source-Medindia