Ressources

Matusali G, Houzet L, Satie AP, Mahé D, Aubry F, Couderc T, Frouard J, Bourgeau S, Bensalah K, Lavoué S, Joguet G, Bujan L, Cabié A, Avelar G, Lecuit M, Le Tortorec A, Dejucq-Rainsford N

In 2016, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone succeeded in interrupting the longest epidemic of Ebola virus disease in global history. However, the risk of re-emergence of Ebola virus disease is real, as shown by the 2017 and 2018 outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Consequently, along with other public health measures, efforts to develop an effective vaccine against Ebola virus disease must continue.

The number of plague cases has been steadily increasing over the past 30 years and Madagascar has gone through an unprecedented epidemic episode in 2017. In response, REACTing from Inserm, the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar and the International Network of the Institut Pasteur organized, on 9 and 10 July 2018, an international workshop to define research priorities on this disease.

Experimental treatments are being considered to cope with the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. An experimental vaccine is already being administered.

In France, considerations around experimental treatments are notably lead within the REACTing platform of Inserm, in collaboration with the research institutes grouped under the Alliance for Life Sciences and Health (Aviesan).

Placide Mbala Kingebeni, Christian-Julian Villabona-Arenas, Nicole VidalJacques Likofata, Justus Nsio-Mbeta, Sheila Makiala-Mandanda, Daniel MukadiPatrick Mukadi, Charles Kumakamba, Bathe Djokolo, Ahidjo Ayouba, Eric Delaporte, Martine Peeters, Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, Steve Ahuka Mundeke

D’Ortenzio E, Lemaître N, Brouat C, Loubet P, Sebbane F, Rajerison M, Baril L, Yazdanpanah Y.

The INRB of Kinshasa and Inserm have identified the Ebola Zaire strain as responsible for the epidemic currently raging in the DRC.

“Our experience in Guinea during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the REACTing platform under the responsibility of Prof. Yazdanpanah, and the North / South collaborations put in place allowed us to better prepare and respond quickly”, says Pr Yves Lévy, CEO of Inserm.

A study conducted in pregnant women and their unborn children during the Zika epidemic in the French territories in the Americas, permitted researchers from Inserm, Institut Pasteur and the University Hospital of Guadeloupe to accurately estimate the risk of severe neurological complications in babies. They have also determined that the first trimester of pregnancy is the period with the highest risk. While the overall risk is 7%, this rises to 12.7% – i.e. more than 1 in 10 children – if infection occurs during the first 3 months of pregnancy. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Partnership for Research on Ebola VACcination (PREVAC) immunisation study began 1 year ago, when the Ebola virus was re-emerging in the DRC. Thanks to more than 2,000 adults and children in the study in Guinea and Liberia, this international clinical trial is evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of two potential vaccines against the Ebola virus. The results will be decisive in preventing a new epidemic.

Ebola, état des lieux des projets de recherche menés dans le cadre de REACTing en 2015

Simonin Y, van Riel D, Van de Perre P, Rockx B, Salinas S.

Joguet G, Mansuy JM, Matusali G, Hamdi S, Walschaerts M, Pavili L, Guyomard S, Prisant N, Lamarre P, Dejucq-Rainsford N, Pasquier C, Bujan L.