Ebola Virus In the U.S. [October 2014]: Vaccine News Updates - What are the Signs & Symptoms?

As first world governments, like the UK and the U.S., continue to downplay the threat Ebola poses to the non-African world, more evidence is mounting that the virus continues to spread outside of the African continent in spite of first-rate medical care being administered. Any hope for an Ebola vaccine that could help contain the outbreak in the near future doesn't appear possible either. The U.S. has implemented a plan to screen travelers at five major airports as they arrive from the affected West African regions.

Ebola Signs & Symptoms

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the following are symptoms of the Ebola virus: a high fever (101.5 degrees F or above); severe headaches; muscle pain; weakness; diarrhea; vomiting; abdominal pain and unexplained hemorrhaging, bleeding or bruising.

These symptoms can manifest themselves between 2 to 21 days following exposure to the virus, though, on average, symptoms appear between 8 to 10 days after exposure. Those who receive prompt medical care, and whose immune systems respond positively, have a better chance at making a full recovery. The CDC reports that those who survive an Ebola infection will develop antibodies that will remain in their bodies for at a minimum of 10 years.

Vaccine Update

A new Ebola vaccine began trials in Africa this week. Researchers announced that three health care workers in Mali have received the first round of the new vaccine. The Director General of the Mali center for vaccine development, Samba Sow, said of the new trials, "This is just the critical first step in a series of additional clinical trials that will have to be carried out to fully evaluate the promising vaccine. However, if it is eventually shown to work and if this information can be generated fast enough, it could become a public health tool to bring the current, and future, Ebola virus disease epidemics under control."

Many are wondering why health care workers in Africa--who are for the most part non-Africans--have been receiving the experimental drugs and treatment first instead of those infected who are natives to the region. In part, this is because health care workers are afraid of traveling to help fight the outbreak in Africa. And since the usual method for beating an outbreak like this one is to isolate the infected, it makes sense that doctors and health care workers should receive whatever treatments are available because they--in their efforts to fight the epidemic--cannot be isolated from the infected.

This new vaccine has created by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious DIseases. Several different health organizations are part of this latest trial, with the University of Maryland leading the effort. Another trial will reportedly begin in Gambia in the near future.