Ebola vaccine trial faces problem in Switzerland

The clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine has faced a problem in Switzerland as some volunteer patients have complained of joint pains in their hands and feet.

The University of Geneva Hospital said in a Thursday statement that scientists decided to stop the trial one week early in all 59 volunteers “as a measure of precaution.”

It noted that four volunteers complained of the side-effects of the vaccine, which is developed by pharmaceutical company NewLink and recently bought by Merck.

“They are all fine and being monitored regularly by the medical team leading the study,” the hospital said.

The hospital said it would resume human safety trials on January 5 with participation of 15 volunteers after checks take place to ensure the joint pain symptoms were “benign and temporary.”

There is still no licensed vaccine for Ebola, although two vaccines are currently being tested in humans in a number of countries.

Ebola spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, and sweat. It has killed around two-thirds of those it has infected over the last four decades.

The virus has killed more than 5,600 people in West Africa, most of them in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The epidemic has slowed in Liberia and Guinea, but transmission continues across large parts of Sierra Leone, the World Health Organization, the United Nations public health body, has said.