Images in Infectious Diseases Ebola outbreak control strategy – Vaccination. Congo, 2018 Viacheslav Kondratiuk, MD, PhD

Ebola outbreak control strategy – Vaccination. Congo, 2018 The one of Pillars of Ebola Response strategies for the prevention and control of Ebola outbreaks is “Research Response Including Vaccine”. An investigational vaccine called rVSV-ZEBOV consists of a vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), which is an animal virus that causes flulike illness in humans. The VSV has been genetically engineered to contain a protein from the Zaire Ebola virus so that it can provoke immune response to the Ebola virus(Fig #1). Figure 1.

Vaccine implemented under a ‘ring vaccination’ strategy around each laboratory confirmed patient regardless of the location. The response covers not only the urban areas of Equateur Province but also the most remote and hard-to-reach places in Itipo and the greater Iboko Health Zone. Under cold chain at the -60 to -80 °C in the ArktekTM storage vaccine is transported to vaccination sites (Fig #2). The targets for vaccination are front-line health professionals, people who have been exposed to confirmed EVD cases and contacts of these contacts. Figure 2.

Ebola outbreak control strategy – Vaccination. Congo, 2018 Each vaccination team is trained and knowledgeable on Good Clinical Practices and comprises of a team leader, social mobilizers, definers of the ring, doctor to assess the eligibility of those who should receive the vaccine, doctor who obtains written consent, vaccinator, an emergency doctor who evaluates the presence of adverse effects of the vaccine 30 minutes after it is administered (Fig #3). Figure 3.