Breakthrough in quest for Ebola vaccine

Yahoo – AFP, Mariette Le Roux, 31 July 2015

The World Health Organization began human trials of the VSV-ZEBOV

vaccine across Guinea in March 2015 (AFP Photo/Cellou Binani)

Paris (AFP) - An Ebola test vaccine provided blanket protection in a field trial in Guinea, said researchers Friday, possibly heralding "the beginning of the end" for the devastating West African outbreak that has killed thousands.

The serum was 100-percent effective, after a week, in more than 7,600 people innoculated, according to results published in The Lancet and hailed as "extremely promising" by World Health Organization (WHO) chief Margaret Chan.

Health workers assist an Ebola patient at

 the Kenema treatment centre in Sierra

 Leone run by the Red Cross Society, on

 November 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/Francisco

Leong)

The world was "on the verge of an effective Ebola vaccine," the UN's health agency said in a statement.

"The initial results of the study show that the vaccine can effectively contain the further spread of the Ebola virus," said the University of Bern, which contributed to the research.

Though encouraging, the results are "interim" and the vaccine will not become immediately available as a community-wide Ebola shield, experts cautioned.

About 28,000 people have been infected in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since late 2013, according to the WHO. Nearly half have died, but there is thought to be a large undercount of cases and deaths.

Having brought an already fragile health sector to its knees, and driving out much-needed investment, the outbreak has started winding down but is not over.

Seven cases were confirmed the week ending in July 26 -- four in Guinea and three in Sierra Leone -- the lowest weekly total for over a year.

But even a single undetected case can spark a flareup -- the virus spreads through direct contact with body fluids.

"An effective vaccine will be another very important tool for both current and future Ebola outbreaks," said Chan.

Liberian health workers burn clothes

belonging to patients at an Ebola clinic in

 Monrovia, as the virus raged West Africa

in 2014 (AFP Photo/Pascal Guyot)

The trial, backed by drug firm Merck, the WHO and the governments of Canada, Norway and Guinea, saw 4,123 high-risk people vaccinated immediately after someone close to the trial participant fell ill with the haemorrhagic fever.

None of the vaccinated group caught the virus.

A second, comparison group of 3,528 people received the vaccine three weeks after potential exposure. Sixteen of them contracted the virus while unprotected, said the study, but by day six after innoculation, everyone in the second group was also fully shielded.

"Indeed, no vaccinee developed symptoms more than six days after vaccination, irrespective of whether vaccination was immediate or delayed," said the study paper.

The vaccine was safe, with no serious side-effects, according to the study.

Not known is how long the protection lasts, or the vaccine's effect on pregnant women and children -- high risk groups not included in the trial.

One of two leading vaccine candidates, VSV-ZEBOV has been developed and tested in a super-quick 12 months, compared to the normal decade or more. Ebola has no licensed cure or treatment either.

Sierra Leonean health officials check for

 the Ebola virus on passengers at a border

 crossing with Liberia in Jendema, on

March 28, 2015 (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)

'Very exciting'

The Lancet said the Guinea trial would continue gathering evidence of the VS-ZEBOV's effectiveness and safety.

"The vaccine is not yet licensed. More data on efficacy are needed before it can be widely deployed," said an editorial in the medical journal.

Even then, it may be better used not to try and prevent outbreaks, but to limit virus spread once there is one, and for protecting healthcare workers -- the group at highest risk.

"The major problem is the very sporadic appearance of Ebola virus in outbreaks which are unpredictable in terms of where and when they might next appear," Andrew Easton, a virology professor at the University of Warwick, told AFP.

And the cost of mass vaccination to cover all eventualities would be prohibitive.

Disease experts welcomed the results.

"This is big news -- the most promising medical development so far in the ongoing race to shut down Ebola," Benjamin Neuman, a virologist with the University of Reading, told AFP.

Liberian doctor Francis Kateh (right) 

volunteered to receive a trial vaccine

against Ebola at Redemption Hospital on

 the outskirts of Monrovia, on February 3,

2015 (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)

Added Peter Smith of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the results were "very exciting and suggest that the Ebola vaccine tested may be highly effective in protecting against Ebola disease among those in the immediate vicinity of an Ebola case."

The trial used a so-called "ring" approach -- the same used to eradicate smallpox in Africa in the 1970s. First to be vaccinated are people who had been in close contact with an Ebola patient, then those at a slightly more indirect risk, and so on.

"Where rings have been vaccinated... the transmission has stopped," WHO assistant director-general Marie-Paule Kieny told journalists in Geneva.

"Prior to the vaccination there were cases, cases, cases. The vaccination arrived, 10 days later no cases."

For one of the trial researchers, Matthias Egger, the trial proved not only the effectiveness of the vaccine, but also of the ring strategy.

"This could finally be the beginning of the end of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and also be useful when combating this disease in the future," he said.

Related Article:

"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. The Role of Gaia in Human Consciousness

One of those times might be frightening for you to know about, since it was a full cooperation with Gaia for your termination, and a pandemic almost wiped humanity off the map. A pandemic! Now, you say, "What has that got to do with Human consciousness, Kryon?" Pay attention, dear ones, because this is the day where the teaching was given by my partner, and he put together the Nine Human Attributes. One of the attribute sets included three Gaia attributes and one of them was the consciousness of the planet. Gaia is related to Human consciousness!

Are you starting to connect the dots? You are connected to this planet in a profound and spiritual way. As goes humanity goes the planet's consciousness. Gaia, Mother Nature, whatever you want to call it, cooperates with Human consciousness. If you spend 1,000 years killing each other, then Gaia will do its best to cooperate with your desires! Gaia will look at Human consciousness and try to help with what you have shown you like to do! Did you know this role of Gaia with you? It's a partner with you, fast tracking what you give to it. You may wish to review what the indigenous of the planet still understand. Gaia is a partner!

Pandemic: Don't you find it odd that in the last 50 years, when you have a population of seven billion Human Beings, with up to 2,000 airplanes in the air at any given moment, going between almost every conceivable place, that there has not been a pandemic in your lifetime? There have been five starts of potential pandemics over the last 20 years, yet none became serious. Did any of you put this together? Dear ones, when the world was far less populated a few hundred years ago, with no mass travel to spread a virus, there were still millions wiped out by a pandemic. With the increased population and mass travel, there is far more danger today than before. It doesn't make sense, does it? What happened to stop it?

When you know humanity's relationship to Gaia, it makes sense. Gaia is a life-force that is your partner, watching you change the balance of light and dark and reflecting what Humans want. It has polarity, too! Perhaps it's time to start your meditations with thanking your planet Earth for supporting you in the spirituality of your Akash, for always being with you, a life-force that is always present. The ancients started their ceremonies in that way. Have you forgotten?

Ebola

Now, I've just set the stage for the next subject, haven't I? Ebola. Are you afraid yet? Gaia is a life-force that is a part of Human consciousness. My partner put it on the screen today so you could see the connections [during the lecture series]. Now it's time to connect the dots. Dear one, Gaia is in the battle, too, for here comes something scary that you haven't had in your lifetime and you're afraid of it - the potential of a pandemic on the planet.

There's a very famous film that has some dialogue that my partner will quote. Some of you will know it and some of you won't, but here it is: "Have a little fire, scarecrow?" What are you afraid of? Darkness? Gaia is in the battle with you and is actively pursuing solutions through light. The energy of the planet is with you in this fight! The ebola virus is a shock and a surprise. It is propelled by ignorance and fear, so it can flourish. Look at where it started and look at how it gets its ability to continue. It expands its fear and power easily with those who believe it's a curse instead of those who understand the science.

Villages are filled with those who refuse to leave their family members because they believe the disease is a curse! FEAR! Instead of understanding that they should be in isolation from the virus, the family dies together through ignorance and fear. This represents how darkness works. Are you going to become afraid also? Dear ones, ebola will be conquered. Know this and be at peace. Pray for light for those in the villages who are afraid, that they can know more about how to keep the spread of this disease and live to see their families. .”