As the modern world becomes more globalized, the risk of the spread of infectious diseases is growing. It is important to have preparations in place should such an emergency occur.
This month, a University of Tokyo research team will start a clinical trial of a vaccine for Ebola hemorrhagic fever. This is an effort to develop the first Ebola vaccine to be produced in Japan.
Ebola is a dangerous infectious disease that in some circumstances has a fatality rate of almost 90 percent. At least 10,000 people died during a major outbreak in western Africa from 2014 to 2016. Even now, Ebola continues to spread in the central African nation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The research team developed the vaccine by using an Ebola virus that, through genetic modifications and other steps, had lost its infectious capacity and ability to multiply. It can be expected that administering the vaccine will build up immunity within the body and make it harder for a vaccinated person to become sick from the disease.
Thirty healthy men will receive injections of the vaccine and be checked for side effects and other developments. Due consideration must be given to safety as research on this vaccine moves ahead.
If the clinical study confirms the vaccine works, further research will be conducted to check its effectiveness in Africa, where Ebola is still spreading. The researchers should cooperate with pharmaceutical companies and aim to put the vaccine to practical use.
This vaccine is initially expected to be used to inoculate doctors and other personnel involved in providing medical treatment should a case of Ebola be detected in Japan. In August, a woman developed a fever after returning to Japan from Congo. Tension ran high among medical personnel until a test for Ebola came back negative.
Having a domestically produced vaccine would be useful for maintaining medical systems during emergencies and for preventing the spread of the disease.
It is important to take the perspective of independently securing methods to protect the public from dangerous diseases. The nation must boost its ability to develop and produce vaccines without relying on other countries.
When a new strain of influenza spread around the world in 2009, Japan ran short of vaccines and had no option but to urgently import more from overseas. In recent times, dengue fever, for which Japan has no vaccines, has been spreading abroad, and cases of dengue have been confirmed even in Tokyo.
The government is boosting support for research activities such as vaccine development. Steps to combat infectious diseases must be strengthened as a national strategy.
A laboratory of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Musashimurayama, Tokyo, operates a facility that fulfills the requirements of biosafety level 4, the highest international safety standard. Nagasaki University also has started building a BSL-4 facility.
The effect of vaccines on extremely dangerous live viruses can be examined at a BSL-4 facility. It is essential to provide a domestic research environment for such work.
-- This article appeared in the print version of The Yomiuri Shimbun on Dec. 13, 2019.
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