Candidate Ebola Vaccine Appears Effective

In initial trials of an experimental Ebola Vaccine, it appears that the desired immune response has occurred with little adverse effect. This vaccine, developed by GlaxoSmithKline in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health is just one of many being created to combat the latest West African Ebola outbreak.

This vaccine, developed from samples of two Ebola Strains, has moved beyond non-human trials to a group of 20 humans. The candidate vaccine does not contain the Ebola Virus directly, and as such cannot cause Ebola. In animal tests, the common cold occurred in chimpanzees, but these symptoms have not been observed in human trials.

During the test, ten volunteers received a low dose of the Ebola vaccine candidate and 10 received a higher dose. Researchers tracked the volunteers for four weeks, testing their blood, and observing symptoms. After the four week period, all 20 volunteers developed anti-Ebola antibodies. Only two volunteers, who received the larger size dose, developed Ebola like symptoms which were characterized by a lasting fever.

Due to the success of the initial trial, the next phase will be a larger scale human trial to verify the accuracy of the data. However, researchers are encouraged by the provoked immune response and are more confident that an effective vaccine is within reach.