Spanish perspective: Development of vaccines in the fight against Ebola

Last year in Spain, after the case of Teresa Romero in 2014 and the use, in that time, of an experimental vaccine combining the antibodies extracted from a Spanish survivor of the disease, Paciencia Melgar, who caught the disease while helping in a NGO in Africa, and an antiviral called favipiravir; the development of vaccines against the Ebola took a lot of importance in the medical investigation of Spain. The latest news date from 4 months ago, in which the hospital Carlos III in Madrid took and are still part of an experimental vaccine investigation, called the VSV-ZEBOV (La Nueva España, 2016)

This vaccine was produced initially in collaboration with Germany and Canada, and works with antibodies of animals which were supplied with a dose of the virus, and the objective is to make the virus detectable for the body to neutralize it completely. Like this the virus would not be able to supply the protein harmful for our body. The objective of the researches that are being done is to test their effectiveness in humans (is not very common to produce the antibodies from animals instead from human cells) and what would be their secondary effects. (Prats, J. 2014)

Although it has been speculated that that, for now, it efficiency has been of nearly a 100%, there has been, especially from the clinical team of the hospital Carlos III, regarding the problem of poor security measurements used to handle the disease. They claim that to treat this kind of extreme contagious disease, the level of security on their equipment should be of Level 4, while they are only permitted to use Level 2 suits. (EL PAÍS, 2014)

  

The difference, as it is shown with the image, is quite important. While the Level 4 has their own autonomous respirator and plastic, impermeable and airtight suits to avoid any possible contact with the disease at any time, the Level 2 suits is only supplied with a mask which could filter in the worst scenario the virus and one layer only suits which can be insufficient to stop the virus to make contact with their bodies. (EL PAÍS, 2014)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

-          La Nueva España, (2016). La vacuna experimental del ébola se probará en España. Retrieved the 18^th of February 2016, from http://www.lne.es/vida-y-estilo/salud/2015/08/05/vacuna-experimental-ebola-probara-espana/1796394.html

-          Prats, J. (2014). ¿En qué consiste el tratamiento experimental contra el ébola? El País (Edición España). Retrieved the 18th of February 2016, from http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2014/08/07/actualidad/1407408112_524579.html

-          EL PAÍS, (2014). El ébola, en dos minutos. Retrieved 18 February 2016, from http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2014/10/08/actualidad/1412790640_746525.html?id_externo_promo=microseo