Ebola can't be stopped until its vaccine is in place, scientist cautions

London, Oct 17: Ebola, the epidemic which has run amok in three West African states of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone and directly threatened 15 other countries, may not end until a vaccine is in place, according to Professor Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was among the scientists who discovered Ebola.

The Guardian published the report on Thursday.

Piot said the fight against Ebola would have been easier if those on the ground and the United Nations acted urgently earlier this year, the Guardian said. He said the epidemic has now gone completely out of hand.

It may be mentioned here that Piot was member of a team that had identified the causes behind the first outbreak of Ebola in erstwhile Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) in the mid-1970s and helped terminating it.

Piot also said that the high scale of the outbreak means measures like isolation, care and monitoring contacts would not help in stopping the spread, the report added.

Dr Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said there was no shortcut in controlling the epidemic and it must be stopped at the source.

Meanwhile, it was said that the threat to the United Kingdom still remained low.

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