The first clinical tests of a vaccine against Ebola were successful. In Basse-Guinée, Guinea, West Africa, the vaccine rRVSV-ZEBOV protected 100 % of those vaccinated against the disease.
Contacts of newly confirmed Ebola cases were defined and randomly allocated 1:1 to immediate vaccination or delayed (21 days later) vaccination. The Ebola virus has an incubation period of about ten days. No new cases of Ebola virus disease were diagnosed in vaccinees from the immediate or delayed groups from six days post-vaccination.
The recombinant, replication-competent vesicular stomatitis virus-based vaccine consists of an animal virus carrying a protein of the Ebola Zaire virus on its surface. The human immune system responds to this protein and develops immunity rapidly after vaccination.
rVSV-ZEBOV might be highly efficacious and safe in preventing Ebola virus disease. Before the vaccine can be industrially produced and used, a lot needs to be optimized. For example, so far, the virus requires storage at –80 °C. Also, it is not clear how long the vaccination will last.
This trial is registered with the Pan African Clinical Trials Registry, number PACTR201503001057193.
- Efficacy and effectiveness of an rVSV-vectored vaccine expressing Ebola surface glycoprotein: interim results from the Guinea ring vaccination cluster-randomised trial,
Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo, Ira M Longini, Matthias Egger, Natalie E Dean, W John Edmunds, Anton Camacho, Miles W Carroll, Moussa Doumbia, Bertrand Draguez, Sophie Duraffour, Godwin Enwere, Rebecca Grais, Stephan Gunther, Stefanie Hossmann, Mandy Kader Kondé, Souleymane Kone, Eeva Kuisma, Myron M Levine, Sema Mandal, Gunnstein Norheim, Ximena Riveros, Aboubacar Soumah, Sven Trelle, Andrea S Vicari, Conall H Watson, Sakoba Kéïta, Marie Paule Kieny, John-Arne Røttingen,
The Lancet 2015.
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)61117-5
