Vaccine gives monkeys Ebola immunity
By James Gallagher
Health editor, BBC News website
7 September 2014 Last updated at 18:1

The first patient was injected with the vaccine last week

Vaccinated monkeys have developed "long-term" immunity to the Ebola virus, raising a prospect
of successful human trials, say scientists.

The experiments by the US National Institutes of Health showed immunity could last at least 10
months.

Human trials of the vaccine started this week in the US and will extend to the UK and Africa.

The World Health Organization says more than 2,000 people have now died in the outbreak in
West Africa.

Several experimental treatments are now being considered to help contain the spread of Ebola.
This includes a vaccine being developed by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases and pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.

It uses a genetically modified chimp virus containing components of two species of Ebola - Zaire,
which is currently circulating in West Africa, and the common Sudan species.

The viral vaccine does not replicate inside the body, but it is hoped the immune system will react
to the Ebola component of the vaccine and develop immunity.

Poor durability
Animal research, on which the decision to begin human trials was based, has now been
published in the journal Nature Medicine.

It shows four crab-eating macaques all survived what would have been a fatal dose of Ebola
virus five weeks later.

However, only half survived an infection 10 months after immunisation.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told
the BBC: "The good part of this vaccine is that at five weeks or earlier you get full protection.

"The sobering news is the durability isn't great, but if you give a boost, a second shot, you make
it really durable."

"We knew this worked in the monkey months ago and based on this paper we started human
trials."

For now this is the best evidence available on how successful such a vaccine would be in people.
Healthcare workers would be prioritised for a vaccine

The first patient, a 39-year-old woman, was given the vaccine last week as human trials got
under way.

There will also be separate trials of the vaccine against just the Zaire Ebola species.

These will take place in the US, the University of Oxford in the UK as well as in Mali and Gambia.
The WHO said safety data would be ready by November 2014 and, if the vaccine proved safe, it
would be used in West Africa immediately.

Healthcare workers and other frontline staff would be prioritised for vaccination.

'Really encouraging'
The number of doses currently available is between 400 - if a lot of vaccine is needed for
immunity - and 4,000 if smaller amounts are sufficient.

As with all experimental therapies, the WHO has warned hopes of a vaccine must not detract
from the proven methods of infection control which have defeated all previous outbreaks.

Prof Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham, said: "This is really encouraging
data.

"The degree of protection seen with the chimpanzee adenovirus alone - which will be used in one
of the human clinical trials planned for the UK, Mali and the Gambia - was still pretty impressive,
especially when the animals received Ebola virus within a few weeks of vaccination.

"This is important as it would keep the dosing regimen simple and could still provide good
protection in the sort of outbreak that we are seeing in Western Africa at the moment."
Ebola virus disease (EVD)

* Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
* Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva
* Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 55%
* Incubation period is two to 21 days
* There is no proven vaccine or cure
* Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help
recovery
* Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host


http://m.bbc.com/news/health-29076371

That's nice, kudos to the lucky monkeys, but you forgot we ain't monkeys. But it may work since we are all primates.
First to comment. Let me give a vote of thanks to all the generous monkeys and mouse that have been sacrificing their bombom for the injection of experimental vaccines since the ebola thing started. Thank you many much.

in other words, if it can work on monkeys, it can work on Africans!

MaY GOD DELIVER US FROM THIS Ebola Thing o

10 months immunity is a breakthrough.
Things can only keep improving for the primates.

ogbeniTafa: .

Well done ooo

Modupe o

Same old story. Try it on humans already

Reali

overhypedsteve: That's nice, kudos to the lucky monkeys, but you forgot we ain't monkeys.

aint you a homosapien?

Ope O...Front Page Thingz

OK

super monkey

Good then

they should release it fast. when will Nigeria also start doing things like this?

good morning nairalanders

Good job.

So I have been thinking ''You shall be financially
buoyant this week'' is the prayer with the loudest
resounding "AMEN"...not anymore... The prayer
by Pastors lately with the most resounding
"AMEN" from the congregation is

"NEITHER YOU NOR YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS
SHALL CONTRACT EBOLA!!!!" Ha! Nigerians.... Loving their lives since 22BC...........

Why did they try it on Monkeys and not a guinea pig?

So we still go dey chop knuckle till November?

Okay na

We've been hearing same story everytime

So fast. And we hv been struggling to develop vaccine for HIV for over 20 years now with no success. There are lots of underlying global politics to this things

This story has been overflogged by the west. Vaccines and drugs that have been developed to treat Ebola have always yielded positive results in primates. Completely negative in man. What's the propaganda for?

monkey business

So there are two kinds of Ebola?

Science to the rescue once again!

sanky346: So fast. And we hv been struggling to develop vaccine for HIV for over 20 years now with no success. There are lots of underlying global politics to this things

HIV virus and Ebola virus do not have the same pattern of attacking human cells.The medical scientists and researchers are really working hard day and night to save humanity from a total wipe out caused by different pathogens. People PLEASE, GIVE THEM DUE CREDIT and quit the conspiracy theories.

Sanky346, your answer lies in the link I provided below.

They were right to be cautious. It had taken 105 years after the discovery of the typhoid bacterium to develop a vaccine for typhoid. For whooping cough (pertussis) it had taken 89 years; for polio and measles 47 and 42 years respectively. But the time lag was getting shorter. It had only taken 16 years from the discovery of the hepatitis B virus to the development of a vaccine.
Source: http://www.aidsmap.com/Why-is-it-so-hard-to-make-a-vaccine-against-HIV/page/1271042/

anoda progress

lirusehn:
i wish i was a monkey

you already look like them

As I see the headline, I think say dem don test am for obasanjo body

Front page again... Sign of heavenly love