Uganda ’s disappearing Ebola outbreak challenges vaccine testing

Last week, Uganda announced uplifting news about the Ebola outbreak that surfaced there in mid-September: The last known patient had recovered and been discharged from a hospital. Health officials hope that signals the spread of the virus has slowed dramatically, if not stopped altogether. Yet the aggressive containment efforts that led to the waning of the outbreak also means a quickly arranged trial of experimental ebolavirus vaccines faces formidable hurdles. The goal of the so-called ring trial is to test the efficacy of the vaccines by giving them to contacts of known cases. But the number of potential participants is dwindling fast. The plan is still to start the trial as soon as this week, but it may have to be called off or redesigned. The issue is sensitive, given the amount of effort put into securing vaccines, obtaining permits, and raising roughly $9 million in funding for the trial. Multiple people close to the study—including three Ugandan researchers—refused to speak to Science on the record about its prospects. But Mark Feinberg, who heads IAVI, a New York City–based nonprofit that has the rights to a Sudan ebolavirus vaccine, says, “Whether the study will start or not I think is an open question.” According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 25 November, Uganda had 141 confirmed cases, 55 of whom had died. WHO tallies include another 22 deaths as likely due to the virus, which had spread, alarmingly, to Kampala, the ...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research