Good news —
Press Release
For Immediate Release
April 14, 2015
Contact: CDC Media Relations
(404) 639-3286
Ebola vaccine trial begins in Sierra Leone
6,000 health and other frontline workers will receive vaccine in five districts of the country
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in partnership with the Sierra Leone College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS) and the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), is now enrolling and vaccinating volunteers for the Sierra Leone Trial to Introduce a Vaccine against Ebola (STRIVE). This study will assess the safety and efficacy of the rVSV-ZEBOV candidate Ebola vaccine among health and other frontline workers.
“A safe and effective vaccine would be a very important tool to stop Ebola in the future, and the frontline workers who are volunteering to participate are making a decision that could benefit health care professionals and communities wherever Ebola is a risk,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “We hope this vaccine will be proven effective but in the meantime we must continue doing everything necessary to stop this epidemic —find every case, isolate and treat, safely and respectfully bury the dead, and find every single contact.”
STRIVE will enroll about 6,000 health and other frontline workers. It will be conducted in Western Area Urban district, which includes Freetown, Western Area Rural district, and certain chiefdoms in Bombali, Port Loko, and Tonkolili districts. These study locations were selected because they have been heavily affected by the Ebola outbreak in the past few months.
“We are happy to be partnering with MoHS and CDC on this important study, which may help to prevent future cases of Ebola,” said Mohamed Samai, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D., acting Provost of COMAHS and the study’s principal investigator. “It brings me hope and pride that my country can take from this devastating epidemic something that may benefit people around the world.”
When participants enroll in the study, they will be assigned randomly to one of two timeframes for vaccination – either immediately or about six months later. All study participants will receive the vaccine and be followed closely for six months. The study will evaluate if and how well the vaccine worked by comparing rates of Ebola virus disease in those who are vaccinated to those who have not yet received the vaccine.
Learn more about STRIVE at www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/strive/.
Not ebola, but very deadly
Mysterious disease that kills patients within 24 hours leaves at least 18 dead in Nigeria
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-18/mysterious-disease-in-nigeria-kills-18/6403558
“Seventeen people have died of the mysterious disease since it broke out early this week in Ode-Irele town,” said Ondo state government spokesman Kayode Akinmade.
The disease, symptoms of which include headache, weight loss, blurred vision and loss of consciousness, killed the victims within 24 hours of their falling ill, he said.
Laboratory tests have so far ruled out Ebola or any other virus, Mr Akinmade added.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it had information on 14 cases with at least 12 dead.
“Common symptoms were sudden blurred vision, headache, loss of consciousness followed by death, occurring within 24 hours,” spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said.
Another WHO spokesman, Gregory Hartl, told AFP that according to a preliminary report, all those affected began showing symptoms between April 13 and 15.
Mr Akinmade said health officials and experts from the government and aid agencies, as well as WHO epidemiologists, had arrived in Ode-Irele to search for answers.
“There is no patient of the disease in any hospital and the disease has not spread beyond the town,” he said.
Ondo state health commissioner, Dayo Adeyanju, told AFP that he and his officials went on a “field visit” with the WHO, UNICEF and the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
“This was basically a case search to unravel the cause [of the disease],” he said.
Mr Jasarevic said blood and urine samples had been taken from two victims and cerebrospinal fluid from another.
“All samples have been sent to Lagos University Teaching Hospital this morning, and results are still pending. Investigations are still ongoing,” he said.