Ebola Virus Disease - Prevention

Prevention

Ebola viruses are highly infectious as well as contagious.

As an outbreak of ebola progresses, bodily fluids from diarrhea, vomiting, and bleeding represent a hazard. Due to lack of proper equipment and hygienic practices, large-scale epidemics occur mostly in poor, isolated areas without modern hospitals or well-educated medical staff. Many areas where the infectious reservoir exists have just these characteristics. In such environments, all that can be done is to immediately cease all needle-sharing or use without adequate sterilization procedures, isolate patients, and observe strict barrier nursing procedures with the use of a medical-rated disposable face mask, gloves, goggles, and a gown at all times, strictly enforced for all medical personnel and visitors. The aim of all of these techniques is to avoid any person’s contact with the blood or secretions of any patient, including those who are deceased.

Vaccines have successfully protected nonhuman primates; however, the six months needed to complete immunization made it impractical in an epidemic. To resolve this, in 2003, a vaccine using an adenoviral (ADV) vector carrying the Ebola spike protein was tested on crab-eating macaques. The monkeys were challenged with the virus 28 days later, and remained resistant. In 2005, a vaccine based on attenuated recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) vector carrying either the Ebola glycoprotein or Marburg glycoprotein successfully protected nonhuman primates, opening clinical trials in humans. By October, the study completed the first human trial; giving three vaccinations over three months showing capability of safely inducing an immune response. Individuals were followed for a year, and, in 2006, a study testing a faster-acting, single-shot vaccine began. This study was completed in 2008. The next step is to try the vaccine on a strain of Ebola that is closer to the one that infects humans.

There are currently no Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccines for the prevention of EVD. Many candidate vaccines have been developed and tested in various animal models. Of those, the most promising ones are DNA vaccines or are based on adenoviruses, vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus (VSIV) or filovirus-like particles (VLPs) as all of these candidates could protect nonhuman primates from ebolavirus-induced disease. DNA vaccines, adenovirus-based vaccines, and VSIV-based vaccines have entered clinical trials.

Contrary to popular belief, ebolaviruses are not transmitted by aerosol during natural EVD outbreaks. Due to the absence of an approved vaccine, prevention of EVD therefore relies predominantly on behavior modification, proper personal protective equipment, and sterilization/disinfection.

On 6 December 2011, the development of a successful vaccine against Ebola for mice was reported. Unlike the predecessors, it can be freeze-dried and thus stored for long periods in wait for an outbreak. The research will be presented in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.