Sunday, January 13, 2019

New Vaccine Discovered in the Fight Against Ebola


Ebola, which first emerged in two simultaneous outbreaks in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, has taken over 11,500 victims since its major outbreak in 2013. The deadly virus is a part of the virus family Filoviridae and the genus of Ebolavirus. There are five different species of Ebola that have been identified within the genus (Zaire, Bundibugyo, Sudan, Reston, and Taï Forest) and two of them, Bundibugyo and Sudan, are untreatable with the vaccine that was developed in December 2016.

Previously, the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine was costly to produce and was of no help to victims infected with the Bundibugyo or Sudan strains. However, scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch think they have found a more effective cure. Thomas Geisbert and his colleagues developed a cocktail they call MBP134 that has successfully cured monkeys infected with the three different lethal strains of Ebola (Zaire, Bundibugyo, and Sudan).

Although human trials have not yet begun, Geisbert and his team are confident that the cocktail will work on humans and save valuable time by creating a cure that is effective regardless of the strain the patient carries. Additionally, MBP134 will save money because scientists won’t have to create a different vaccine for each independent species of Ebola.

The U.S. Army, the Canadian government, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health funded Dr. Geisbert’s research with the goal that countries affected by the virus can have a treatment ready to prevent any future Ebola outbreaks and they have made valuable progress in the fight against the virus.


-       Julio Contreras

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