Ebola vaccine 'promising' say scientists after human trial

The first human trial of an experimental vaccine against Ebola suggests that it is safe and may help the immune system to combat the virus.

Twenty volunteers were immunised in the United States.

Scientists at the US National Institutes of Health, NIH, described the results as promising.

The research is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

None of those immunised suffered major side-effects and all produced antibodies.

A medical doctor with the NIH, Anthony Fauci said the safety and ability to produce an appropriate immune response is an unqualified success, even though it is an early Phase One trial.

The investigators found that seven of the high dose and two of the low dose volunteers produced T-cell immune responses, which may be important in protection against Ebola viruses.

The vaccine uses a chimpanzee cold virus which has been genetically engineered to carry a non-infectious Ebola protein on its surface.

BBC