Largest-ever outbreak of Ebola virus disease thrusts experimental therapies, vaccines into spotlight.

Asefforts to successfully contain the largest outbreak of Ebola virus disease in history prove elusive, the mounting number of cases and deaths has brought research to developmuch-needed treatments andprotectivevaccines into the spotlight.Although theapprovalprocess for drugs and vaccines is typically slow and deliberate, the latestoutbreak,declaredby the World Health Organization (WHO) on August 8 as an international health emergency, has galvanized regulatoryofficials to consider proposals for providing as-yet unproven treatments under special emergency NewDrug Applications. “No one wants to see potentially unsafe drugs causing more harm than good. Buton theotherhand, givenavirus that can cause up to 90% case-fatality rates, we all want to see something done to help,” said Thomas Geisbert, PhD, of the University of TexasMedical BranchatGalveston. This latest outbreakappears tohavea55%to60% fatality rate.