It's still being tested, merck is still trying to figure out how efficacious it is, but it can really provide an opportunity where you can start protecting people.

Don Sodora

Categorized in : Top News

The hemorrhagic fever viruses have a number of issues that make them particularly problematic with regard to transmission. They have this initial period when people are infected but don't show symptoms, and that's a problem, so the best strategy is to identify infected people, get there rapidly with trained health care workers and get quarantine established quickly.

In the typical ways to contain these types of outbreaks, you want to identify the patients very quickly. You want to make sure that people who are feverish and have the disease do not leave an area, the hemorrhagic fever viruses have a number of issues that make them particularly problematic with regard to transmission. They have this initial period when people are infected but don't show symptoms, and that's a problem.

One thing that's different this time that I think really made a big difference is the availability of the vaccine from Merck.