Canada will ship 800 vials of its experimental Ebola virus disease vaccine, VSV-EBOV, to the World Health Organization, Ottawa announced Saturday. The Ebola vaccine will be sent in three shipments. Human clinical trials of VSV-EBOV began Monday after previously being shown effective in other primates.
加拿大將運送800瓶埃博拉試驗性疫苗VSV-EBOV給世界衛(wèi)生組織。這批疫苗將被分成三批運送。VSV-EBOV疫苗之前在其他靈長類動物身上試驗后被證明有效，從本周一開始將對其進行人體臨床試驗。
“This vaccine, the product of many years of scientific research and innovation, could be an important tool in curbing the outbreak. We will continue to work closely with the WHO to address some of the ethical and logistical issues around using this experimental vaccine in the fight against Ebola,” Gregory Taylor, Canada’s chief public health officer, said in a statement.
加拿大首席衛(wèi)生官員格利高里·泰勒稱：“該疫苗是多年科學(xué)研究和不斷創(chuàng)新的結(jié)果，可以成為應(yīng)對此次埃博拉疫情的重要工具。我們將會繼續(xù)加強與世衛(wèi)組織的緊密合作，以應(yīng)對在使用埃博拉試驗性疫苗時所產(chǎn)生的倫理道德和后勤保障問題。”
Each shipment of VSV-EBOV will be packed in a special container with dry ice, at a temperature of -80 degrees Celsius, or -112 degrees Fahrenheit. The vaccine was developed at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Canada. The government has licensed the NewLink Genetics Corp. to produce VSV-EBOV in an attempt to help stop the spread of Ebola in West Africa.
三批VSV-EBOV疫苗將被分別裝入三個特殊的容器中，容器中盛有干冰，以保證溫度在零下80攝氏度（即零下112華氏度）。VSV-EBOV疫苗是在加拿大國家微生物實驗室中研發(fā)出來的。加政府授權(quán)生物技術(shù)公司NewLink Genetics Corp生產(chǎn)，希望該疫苗能幫助阻止埃博拉病毒在西非的蔓延。
The vaccine is a combination of a weakened version of the vesicular stomatitis virus, or VSV, found in animals including cattle and horses, and protein from the Ebola virus. VSV is zoonotic, meaning it can be transferred from animals to humans. Infected humans develop flulike symptoms, according to the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. The VSV-EBOV vaccine triggers an immune system response that produces antibodies against the Ebola protein, similar to the way a flu shot works.
VSV-EBOV疫苗是由在牛、馬等動物身上提取的水皰性口炎病毒（即VSV）和埃博拉病毒蛋白質(zhì)組合而成。VSV是一種人畜共患病毒，也就是說它可以在動物和人之間傳播。根據(jù)威斯康星大學(xué)獸醫(yī)學(xué)院的研究，感染VSV的人會表現(xiàn)出流感的癥狀。VSV-EBOV疫苗能夠誘發(fā)人體免疫系統(tǒng)產(chǎn)生應(yīng)對埃博拉病毒蛋白質(zhì)的抗體，這和流感疫苗的原理類似。
Clinical trials are under way at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, headquartered in Silver Spring, Md. Results will not be available until December. Canada has been at the forefront of Ebola drug development, with TKM-EBOLA and ZMapp also being developed in Canada with the help of U.S. funding and partnerships. The latter was recently used on the Spanish nurse Teresa Romero, who contracted the virus Oct. 6. Meanwhile, a second vaccine is also in the works in Canada.
該疫苗的臨床試驗正在總部位于銀泉市的沃爾特里德陸軍研究所中進行。具體結(jié)果要到12月份才能知曉。在埃博拉藥物研制方面加拿大一直處于最前沿，TKM-EBOLA和ZMapp疫苗都是在美國資金和人員的幫助下在加拿大被研發(fā)出來的。其中ZMapp疫苗最近已被用在10月6日感染埃博拉病毒的西班牙護士特里薩身上。另外，加拿大仍有一種疫苗正在研發(fā)中。
“Canada views this experimental Ebola vaccine as a global resource, and, in the interest of global public health, we are sharing it with our international partners to help address the Ebola outbreak in West Africa,” Canadian Health Minister Rona Ambrose said in a statement.
加拿大衛(wèi)生部長羅娜·安布羅絲曾表示：“加拿大把這支埃博拉實驗性疫苗看做是全球資源，這關(guān)系到全世界人類健康的共同利益。我們會把疫苗和其他國家分享，以此來幫助應(yīng)對西非的埃博拉疫情。”
The first shipment of the VSV-EBOV vaccine to WHO in Geneva will be made Monday.
第一批VSV-EBOV疫苗將于周一到達日內(nèi)瓦的世界衛(wèi)生組織。