Experimental DNA vaccines to prevent Ebola virus and the closely related Marburg virus are safe for human use, reveal scientists.
World Support for Ebola: US$35 Million Funding from King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia
Zaire ebolavirus is commonly known as Ebola. It was previously known as ebola haemorrhagic fever and is a deadly human illness.
Advertisement
In the first trial of filovirus vaccines in Africa, the researchers developed the DNA vaccines that code for Ebola virus proteins from the Zaire and Sudan strains and the Marburg virus protein and the vaccines contain the construction plans for the proteins on the outer surface of the virus. Immune responses against these proteins have shown to be highly protective in non-human primate models.
Lead author Dr Julie Ledgerwood from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health, USA, said that this is the first study to show comparable safety and immune response of an experimental Ebola vaccine in an African population and this is particularly encouraging because those at greatest risk of Ebola live primarily in Africa, and diminished vaccine protection in African populations has been seen for other diseases.
![Interruption to Ebola Vaccine Trial]( "Interruption to Ebola Vaccine Trial")
Trials of an experimental Ebola vaccine was suspended over unexpected side-effects in Switzerland. But this is not a setback in the fight against the deadly virus, the WHO insisted on Thursday.
Both DNA vaccines were well tolerated in Ugandan adults with similar numbers of local and systemic reactions reported in all groups. Only one serious adverse event (neutropenia; low white blood cell count) was reported in a Marburg vaccine only recipient, but was not thought to be vaccine related.
The researchers added that the These findings have already formed the basis of a more potent vaccine, delivered using a harmless chimpanzee cold virus, which is undergoing trials in the USA, UK, Mali, and Uganda in response to the ongoing Ebola virus outbreak.
The study was published in The Lancet.
Source: ANI
Interruption to Ebola Vaccine Trial 'Not a Setback': WHO
Trials of an experimental Ebola vaccine was suspended over unexpected side-effects in Switzerland. But this is not a setback in the fight against the deadly virus, the WHO insisted on Thursday.
Advertisement
Both DNA vaccines were well tolerated in Ugandan adults with similar numbers of local and systemic reactions reported in all groups. Only one serious adverse event (neutropenia; low white blood cell count) was reported in a Marburg vaccine only recipient, but was not thought to be vaccine related.
The researchers added that the These findings have already formed the basis of a more potent vaccine, delivered using a harmless chimpanzee cold virus, which is undergoing trials in the USA, UK, Mali, and Uganda in response to the ongoing Ebola virus outbreak.
The study was published in The Lancet.
Source: ANI
Ebola Virus Disease
Ebola is caused by a virus via direct contact with body fluids or infected blood. Scientists have identified five types of Ebola or Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus.
Advertisement
 Leucopenia / LeukopeniaLeucopenia / Leukopenia is a decrease in the number of total white blood cells found in blood. The normal total white cell count is 5000-10000 per cubic millimeter. | Advertisement
|
Advertisement
Recommended Reading
Latest Tropical Disease News
Pregnant women in Korogwe, Tanzania are found to have a high risk of contracting malaria, which is one of the deadliest diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.
Can nasal swab test save you from emerging diseases? Yes, simple nasal swab can offer early detection of new deadly viruses.
Brain-eating amoeba (Naegleria fowleri) infection claims a South Korean man's life.
Harmless infrared light is used to detect malaria with the help of a computer algorithm processed by a smart phone.
Monkeypox virus may be shed into semen during both acute and convalescent stages of the disease in crab-eating macaques.