Ebola Virus Disease

Question: Why ebola has not yet got a vaccine, compared to other conditions which do have vaccines? Answer: Introduction: Ebola virus disease is a disease that occurs amongst humans and other primates which is caused due to the attack of the Ebola virus. The medium of flow of the virus in the body is by the fluids of the body including blood. This is an air-borne disease so the people surrounding an infected person must be very careful and take preventive measures by covering themselves. The first case of Ebola came out in the year 1976 in Zaire. Until now, there were 24 outbreaks of the disease comprising 1716 cases. As of 7 March 2015, this outbreak has 24237 cases resulting in 9951 deaths. Community commitment is the key to effectively control the outbreaks. Firm outbreak control relies more on the application of the package of involvement, like contract tracing, observation and good management of case, a superior laboratory service, safe burial and social enlistment. Early compassionate care with rehydration, symptomatic treatment can help an infected individual improve. However, this depends on the spread of infection in his body. If the infection is more than 25%, then the virus is supposed to spread drastically (Nhs.uk, 2015). There is yet no approved treatment verified to implement a counter treatment to the virus but a range of drug therapies, immunology and range of other therapies are also developed (Prevention, 2015). Vaccination: Until now no specific treatment, medicine or Vaccination could be developed for the disease. The vaccination is still not in the hands of scientists because the scientists still do not know how it works in the human body. The scientists have the models of animals infected with the virus, which provides some glimpse of the disease, but in order to study the disease in humans, the scientists will have to work on the middle of the outbreak of the disease. To conduct a study like this becomes impossible because the longevity of the infected person is very less. The virus spreads very fast in the body and a person infected with 25 to 50% of the virus is likely to die within 3 to 4 days or at most 7 days. The prevention of Ebola virus from infecting the humans is the best and the only way right now to save them. This is done by putting the individuals in isolation who are infected by the viruses. Isolating individuals who can transmit the disease is the current method used to guard uninfected humans from Ebola viruses, but regrettably, in this current outbreak, the method of isolation has not been very efficient. Vaccine development began in the year 2003 against Ebola viruses but unfortunately, nothing is available currently. On the other hand, National Institutes of Health in the USA, due to this Ebola virus outbreak announced that preliminary treatment testing of an investigational vaccine for the prevention of Ebola virus diseasehad begun in September 2014.The institution claims to come up with sure positive vaccination before the next outbreak of the virus. At present there are no approved Ebola vaccines but two possible infected persons are undergoing evaluation (Who.int, 2015). References Nhs.uk, (2015).Ebola virus disease - NHS Choices. [online] Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ebola-virus/pages/ebola-virus.aspx [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Prevention, C. (2015).2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa| Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever | CDC. [online] Cdc.gov. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/ [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Prevention, C. (2015).Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever | CDC. [online] Cdc.gov. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/ [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Who.int, (2015).WHO | Ebola virus disease. [online] Available at: https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/ [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015].