Vaccines to prevent Ebola virus disease: current challenges and perspectives

Abstract

Relevance. Ebola virus disease (EVD) is an acute infectious disease with an extremely high case fatality rate reaching up to 90%. EVD has become widely known since 2014–2016, when outbreak in West Africa occurred and led to epidemic, which caused travel-related cases on the territory of other continents. There are two vaccines against EVD, prequalified by WHO for emergency use, as well as a number of vaccines, approved by local regulators in certain countries. However, even with the availability of effective vaccines, the lack of data on immune correlates of protection and duration of protective immune response in humans and primates is limiting factor for effectively preventing the spread of EVD outbreaks. Aims. This review highlights experience of use of EVD vaccines during outbreaks in endemic areas, summarizes data on vaccine immunogenicity in clinical trials, and discusses perspectives for further development and use of effective EVD vaccines.