Uganda Has No More Patients "In Hospital" -- So, It May Mean No Sudan Vaccine Candidate Trials, This Time Around...

Clearly, we are thrilled to see no new cases, now in about four elapsed weeks. . . and yet, this means there may be two few contacts remaining, to vaccinate with any candidate, for a sufficiently powered "n" in the clinicals.

Thus, there may be no clinical trial of any Sudan variant Ebola vaccine this time around -- and while that is a potential loss for science, and more importantly, for those who will become ill, the next time this unique strain appears. . . it is good to know that Uganda is now only a few weeks away from an "all clear" declaration.

We bring you the latest (mixed news), then -- from the online magazine curated by Science.org:

. . .Last week, Uganda announced uplifting news about the Ebola outbreak that surfaced there in mid-September: The last known patient had recovered and been discharged from a hospital. Health officials hope that signals the spread of the virus has slowed dramatically, if not stopped altogether. Yet the aggressive containment efforts that led to the waning of the outbreak also means a quickly arranged trial of experimental ebolavirus vaccines faces formidable hurdles.

The goal of the so-called ring trial is to test the efficacy of the vaccines by giving them to contacts of known cases. But the number of potential participants is dwindling fast. . . .

But Mark Feinberg, who heads IAVI, a New York City–based nonprofit that has the rights to a Sudan ebolavirus vaccine, says, “Whether the study will start or not I think is an open question. . . .”

Now you know. And it does not make any ethical sense to run a trial on "contacts" who are no longer at any real risk. While all the vaccine candidates appear to be very safe, even a small risk is. . . not defensible, now. Onward -- smiling on a gray morning, just the same: progress.

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