China develops 100% effective Hepatitis E vaccine

Hepatitis E is, for many poor and developing countries, a real concern that still takes thousands of lives each year. But the end of the deadly disease may be in sight.

According to France24, Chinese scientists have now confirmed that tests show a prototype Hepatitis E vaccine works with absolute accuracy and is ready to be unveiled. Chinese news media have confirmed that the vaccine's trial series is fully complete. A final test group of 100,000 volunteers re-confirmed 100 percent efficiency of the vaccine, as well as very few negative or unpleasant other effects. The vaccine, HEV 239, will be a huge help to travelers visiting parts of the world that may see them susceptible to the water-borne virus. Hopefully, it will also soon be widely available to everyday occupants of the developing countries most at-risk for the serious disease. The E strain of Hepatitis is a more recently discovered one, and has only been in medical books for a few decades; but like other types of Hepatitis, its high transmission rate has made it a devastatingly widespread illness, and one that does still kill in areas without proper medical access.