First Human Trial Raises Hope For Ebola Vaccine

November 29, 2014

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VENTURES AFRICA – The first human trial of the Ebola vaccine has proved to be what scientists call an “unqualified success,” following this development, the World Health Organization (WHO) says it is “cautiously pleased.”
The procedure involved injecting 20 healthy adults with an experimental Ebola vaccine to which an immune response was produced and anti-Ebola antibodies were developed. This success was recorded with no serious side effects, save brief fevers experienced by two of the people tested.
“Based on these positive results from the first human trial of this candidate vaccine, we are continuing our accelerated plan for larger trials to determine if the vaccine is efficacious in preventing Ebola infection,” said Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the U.S.
As a response to the current Ebola outbreak in
West Africa, the development of the vaccine, a joint effort by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and British pharmaceuticals GlaxoSmithKline, has been expedited in the hopes of eventually developing a cure.
Providing some scientific insight on why the vaccine was effective, Lead investigator Julie E. Ledgerwood, a researcher at the NIAID Vaccine Research Center, explained that from previous studies in non-human primates, the CD8 T-cells played a crucial role in protecting animals that had been vaccinated with this NIAID/GSK vaccine and then exposed to otherwise lethal amounts of Ebola virus. “The size and quality of the CD8 T-cell response we saw in this trial are similar to that observed in non-human primates vaccinated with the candidate vaccine,” said Ledgerwood.
If further clinical tests indicate that this vaccine can be used deployed massively, health care workers who have placed their lives on the line, some 340 of whom have died and 592 infected according to the WHO, will likely be the first to be treated as a way of stemming further infection.
In an unrelated development, the government of Germany has taken delivery of a long-haul jet specially adapted to transport Ebola patients. The Airbus A340-300 is, according to a press release from German carrier Lufthansa, “the world’s only evacuation facility for highly contagious patients and would offer more comprehensive care than the smaller jets that have been used to transport Ebola patients in recent months.”
In total, 5,689 people have died from the Ebola virus, as of Sunday, 23rd November, according to the WHO. 15,935 cases have been reported in eight countries since the outbreak began, but Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone top the charts.