So what about a vaccine?
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| Ever since Ebola
first emerged in the 1970’s, scientists have been searching for
a cure. Vaccines are the best way to treat diseases caused by viruses,
thus many people have been trying to formulate a safe vaccine for Ebola.
However, there are many problems with trying to find a vaccine for as
dangerous a disease as Ebola. Because of the seriousness of the disease,
all vaccines must be tested under biosafety level
4 precautions. However, scientists have finally developed a very good
potential vaccine. It is made of DNA for Ebola made in the laboratory,
with nothing in the vaccine coming from an actual Ebola virus. The vaccine
went through very successful trials in guinea-pigs and monkeys, and in
mid-November of 2003 the first human trial of the vaccine was conducted
at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland. The vaccine is very
safe, but so far only one man has volunteered for the trial vaccine. This
could be because of the fear associated with Ebola, partly due to the
media and Hollywood, which has shown the goriest aspects of Ebola with
productions such as “Outbreak.”
The outlook is
good for the Ebola vaccine. Just making it to the human trials show
great hope for it, because it has to have been very well tested in animals
before ever coming anywhere near human subjects. The vaccine will be
very important for people living in the hot spots of Africa where Ebola
has been before, and is destined to come back again. Another important
implication of the vaccine is for protection against bioterrorism. In
the wake of September 11, scientists realized the potential of biological
agents to be used as weapons, and worried that Ebola could somehow be
aerosolized and be used as a very deadly weapon. Having this vaccine
will help give people a piece of mind and protection against a very
real threat. Also, having developed this vaccine may help in the future
against threats from new emerging viruses. The progress of the human
trials of the vaccine will be very important to watch in the coming
months; the new vaccine will be one of the great success stories of
21st century medicine if it does indeed prove to be a legitimate vaccine.
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