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Published Date: 2019-05-21 02:06:43
EBOLA UPDATE (26): DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (NORTH KIVU, ITURI) CASE UPDATES, FATAL
There are several Ebola vaccines under development, and 2 of them are currently undergoing testing. The rVSV-ZEBOV-GP Ebola vaccine is now being tested in the DRC. This vaccine is having an effect on preventing the tertiary generation of cases but not primary or secondary cases.
Figures of the response
-----------------------
- 119 652 vaccinated persons
- 792 people vaccinated on 18 May 2019;
- of those vaccinated, 32 577 are high-risk contacts, 58 347 are contacts of contacts, and 28 728 are front-line providers;
- persons vaccinated by health zone: 31 862 in Katwa, 24 585 in Beni, 14 829 in Butembo [total numbers of people vaccinated in North Kivu, Ituri, Tshopo, and Haut-Uele provinces can be seen at the source URL above];
- the only vaccine to be used in this outbreak is the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine, manufactured by the pharmaceutical group Merck, following approval by the Ethics Committee in its decision of 19 May 2018.
- 59 010 231 people under control;
-- 80 points of entry and health checkpoints are operational;
-- disruption of activities at Kiwanja PoC on 18 May 2019 following popular protests;
- 102 contaminated health workers:
-- the cumulative number of confirmed/probable cases among health workers is 102 (5.6% of all confirmed/probable cases) including 34 deaths.
***
Figures of the response
-----------------------
- 118 826 vaccinated persons;
- 779 people vaccinated on 17 May 2019;
- of those vaccinated, 32 225 are high-risk contacts, 57 888 are contacts of contacts, and 28 713 are front-line providers;
- persons vaccinated by health zone: 31 762 in Katwa, 24 426 in Beni, 14 679 in Butembo [total numbers of people vaccinated in North Kivu, Ituri, Tshopo, and Haut-Uele provinces can be seen at the source URL above];
- 58 745 920 people under control;
-- 80 points of entry and health checkpoints are operational;
- paralysis of activities at 2 Butembo checkpoints (Vulindi and Mutsanga) on 17 May 2019 following threats by militias.
- 102 contaminated health workers:
-- the cumulative number of confirmed/probable cases among health workers is 102 (5.7% of all confirmed/probable cases), including 34 deaths.
Published Date: 2019-05-20 11:52:01
Why is Ebola so hard to fight?
1. The vaccine’s requirements
Ebola vaccine has to be kept cold. But in tropical areas where little refrigeration is available, the vaccine can quickly become useless. And we don’t yet have a dried or otherwise nonperishable form of the vaccine.
2. Constraints and costs of new drugs
There are experimental, genetically engineered drugs for Ebola, but it’s not yet clear if they’ll be broadly effective, and affordable enough that they’ll be feasible for mass treatment of Ebola victims.
3. The failure of a technique that stopped past viruses
In 1966, during a large outbreak of smallpox virus, vaccinators tried a technique called ring vaccination with great success: They vaccinated people in a ring around the infected person. This trapped the virus inside a wall of immune people and stopped it from spreading. But attempts to use the technique with Ebola have run into problems. Ring vaccination requires a stable government or other authority maintaining civil order. The areas with Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are controlled by violent militias that won’t let vaccinators do their work.
4. Gaps in scientists’ understanding of how Ebola kills