Update on PREVAIL Vaccine Studies

This presentation provides an overview of the PREVAIL vaccine study and the Partnership for Research on Ebola VACcination (PREVAC) study, the goals of which are to develop a safe and effective Ebola vaccine to prevent future outbreaks

Correction to: Partnership for Research on Ebola VACcination (PREVAC): protocol of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 clinical trial evaluating three vaccine strategies against Ebola in healthy volunteers in four West African countries.

Following the publication of the original article [1], we were notified of an error in the affiliation of 3 authors of the article: Celine Roy, Laura Richert and Genevieve Chene. Their affiliation was initially mentioned as: “Partnership for Research on Ebola Virus in Liberia (PREVAIL), Monrovia, Liberia” However, their correct affiliation is: Univ. Bordeaux, Inserm, Bordeaux Population Health Research Center, UMR 1219, CHU Bordeaux, CIC 1401, EUCLID/F-CRIN Clinical Trials Platform, F-33000, Bordeaux, France.tp

Completeness and errors did not correlate to markers of journal quality.

<p>Each academic press article is graphed for completeness versus impact factor (A), errors versus impact factor (B), completeness versus authors (C) and citations (D). (E) Completeness for full open access journals versus limited access is shown, red dots indicate articles that were free of errors. Errors versus authors (F), citations (G), and pages (H) are shown. (I) completeness versus page length is shown.</p

The resultant scores for comprehensive review articles under Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) model.

<p>Scores for presence or absence of covered topics were generated using the CERC model in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0179356#pone.0179356.t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>. Citations 111–114 pre-date 2013 EVD outbreak. Red indicates the citation covered the topic, blue indicates the topic was not covered, and grey indicates not applicable.</p

Systematic review inclusion process for academic articles focusing on general review.

<p>(A) The primary search for articles written after the Western African outbreak. (B) A similar search for general topic review articles from 2010 up until the Western African outbreak onset.</p

The Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) model for topic scoring.

<p>The CERC model was used to generate topic lists for scoring of accuracy, completeness, as well as enumerating unrelated information.</p

Completeness and accuracy scores by media type.

<p>Aggregate scores for coverage of topics were collected for each media type based on individual media outlets (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0179356#pone.0179356.s001" target="_blank">S1 Table</a>). Nations impacted in the 2013–2016 outbreak were not counted against those sources that pre-dated the outbreak.</p

Both completeness and errors were larger in academic journals.

<p>Completeness (A) and errors (B) for each of the categories of written press. Each dot represents one article. Significance determined by ANOVA, ****—p = <0.0001, ***—p = <0.001, **—p = <0.01, *—p = <0.05, f = p value significant if outlier statistically removed from academic errors group.</p

Pre-Ebola virus disease laboratory system and related challenges in Liberia

Prior to the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Liberia, the laboratory system was duplicativefragmented and minimally coordinated. The National Reference Laboratory was conceptualisedto address the existing challenges by promoting the implementation of effective and sustainablelaboratory services in Liberia. However, in a resource-limited environment such as Liberiaprogress regarding the rebuilding of the health system can be relatively slow, while efforts tosustain the transient gains remain a key challenge for the Ministry of Health. In this paper, wedescribe the pre-Ebola virus disease laboratory system in Liberia and its prevailing efforts toaddress future emerging infectious diseases, as well as current Infectious diseases, all of whichare exacerbated by poverty. We conclude that laboratory and diagnostic services in Liberiahave encountered numerous challenges regarding its efforts to strengthen the healthcaredelivery system. These challenges include limited trained human resource capacity, inadequateinfrastructure, and a lack of coordination. As with most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, whencomparing urban and rural settings, diagnostic and clinical services are generally skewedtoward urban health facilities and private, faith-based health facilities. We recommend thatstructured policy be directed at these challenges for national institutions to develop guidelinesto improve, strengthen and sustain diagnostic and curative laboratory services to effectivelyaddress current infectious diseases and prepare for future emerging and re-emerging infectiousdiseases