First Ebola Vaccine Trial Starts in Africa

“This is just the critical first step in a series of additional clinical trials that will have to be carried out to fully evaluate the promising vaccine,” said Samba Sow, Director General of Mali’s center for vaccine development. “However, if it is eventually shown to work and if this information can be generated fast enough, it could become a public health tool to bring the current, and future, Ebola virus disease epidemics under control.”

The vaccine was developed at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. A consortium led by the University of Maryland is carrying out the trial. Ebola vaccine trials are also under way at NIH outside Washington, D.C., and in Britain.

The vaccine is made using a common cold virus called an adenovirus that does not make people sick. It’s had a little piece of Ebola virus attached – a small part that cannot cause disease, either. In animals, such a vaccine has been shown to stimulate the body’s immune response against Ebola virus.

The trial has been set up quickly. Usually, it takes six to 11 months to get a vaccine trial started because of all the regulatory and ethical hoops. This one got started in two months.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/exclusive-first-ebola-vaccine-trial-starts-africa-n222266