Research suggests that the linings of the airways may be an important point of entry for the Ebola virus into the body.
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The job of the researchers is not yet done as they now need to proceed to human trial and hope for favorable results.
“Russian, Singaporean and American newspapers criticised that the United States developed anti-Ebola virus vaccine through experiment on Ebola contagion, but has prevented this vaccine from being known to the world, only for its own interests”. The immune system, in turn, recognized that outer coat as foreign, and activated a response.
The newly developed vaccine must pass several safety tests according to Chris Cooper and Sina Bavari of the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
By the end of the study, the unvaccinated monkeys had died, while those that had been vaccinated remained healthy, without any trace of the Ebola virus in their systems. “This is one of the few vaccines that works”.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about Ebola. Four weeks after the monkeys were vaccinated, they were injected with 1,000 times the dose of Ebola considered fatal.
Even before the deadly outbreak, the number of trained medical doctors in countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone was extremely scarce, making it hard or impossible for some victims to receive the vaccine shots.
He said it is the first time that successful aerosol vaccination against a viral hemorrhagic fever was demonstrated by the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. People who are not comfortable having somebody insert a needle into their vein might find inhalable vaccines more appealing.
The Oxford Vaccine Group, part of the University of Oxford Department of Paediatrics, has started enrolling volunteers for the phase II study this month, with additional French sites coordinated by Inserm anticipated to start recruitment in August.
The study characterised the immune responses generated by vaccination against Ebola delivered to the respiratory tract of rhesus macaques as either an aerosol or liquid.
During the study, researchers also did a comparison between the effectiveness of the injectable and inhalable vaccines. Then, further studies will be needed to confirm that the vaccine is both safe and effective, which means it will likely take at least three years before the vaccine be used in the field, Bukreyev said.
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A report by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) is claiming an aide to ex-President Reagan informed them the USA had invented a progenitor of Ebola virus “for the objective of launching a biological warfare”.
