(pix: en-africatime)
An experimental Ebola vaccine tested on 20 volunteers appears to be safe and producing the immune response expected within four weeks of receiving the dose.
Half of the test group received
a higher-dose shot, and those people produced more antibodies, says a study
published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Some people also developed a different set of
virus-fighting immune cells, named T cells, doctors found.
Research on monkeys had also noticed such a combination
response, reports AP.
Calling it
"a promising factor," Anthony Fauci, director of NIH's National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which led the vaccine work, said the response was comparable to what had
produced protection in the animals.
The researchers reported no serious side effects other
than high fever which subsided in a day. A booster shot may be needed, say
experts, going by the results in monkey trials.
