Between 2015 – 2018 Rochester Clinical Research conducted a study demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of an Ebola Virus Vaccine. The goal was to eventually be able to provide vaccination to individuals in the affected areas of Africa, and significantly reduce the impact of the disease worldwide. The study came after March 2014, where an unprecedented outbreak in West Africa affected many more people and had more deaths that all previous outbreaks combined. The virus at the time had spread to numerous geographic locations including the United States by way of inbound travelers. Between 2013 -2016, the epidemic killed 11,300 people. Since the study has concluded, the vaccine has been able to be used in various parts of Africa to help combat the epidemic. However, more than 1,800 people have died and 2,700 have been infected in the latest outbreak (starting from August 2018 and ongoing to today) of Ebola is central Africa according to BBC News.
Ebola is a virus that initially causes sudden fever, intense weakness and muscle pain and a sore throat. It later progresses to vomiting, diarrhea and both internal and external bleeding. The virus can spread quickly.
Last week (August 2019), the WHO designated the outbreak of Ebola a global health emergency. In order to keep borders open, and help protect a number of people, medics use the same vaccine that was studied at RCR in Rwanda and DR Congo. The vaccine has been 99% effective and more than 161,000 people have received it so far. Thank you to all of our volunteers that help advance medicine and change lives of those here in the US and those around the world. To read more about the vaccine and see how it has positively impacted people and the ability to open back up borders, click here. To learn how you can help with other vaccine studies, click here.
