Ebola vaccine development continues with human trial

Ebola is a viral fever that can cause clotting problems that result in internal bleeding. Initial symptoms can appear after two days or within three weeks after infection starts with people often experiencing similar symptoms to the common cold- a fever, sore throat, muscle pain and headaches. Shortly after, they may go on to develop diarrhea, vomiting, rash and a deteriorating liver and kidney. Data shows that half of people infected with Ebola die.

Vaccines have been produced over time to combat Ebola; however, scientists say that there are 4 strands of the virus. The vaccinations have only been sanctioned for 1 of those strands, known as the Zaire species, which has been deemed to blame for multiple epidemics. Statistics show that this species has caused the largest number of deaths.

Over 25 volunteers will take part in a human trial for a new Ebola vaccine, led by the University of Oxford. This will include identical technology to the Covid vaccination produced by AstraZeneca. The vaccine is being trialled to see if it is safe and able to provoke an immune response. Ideally results will show that it can provide an immune defence for more than 1 strand of the Ebola virus, and potentially be successful in defence against other problems like malaria, HIV and several types of cancer.

Principal investigator of the trial, Dr Daniel Jenkin, said “There are three other important species of Ebola virus out there that these vaccines aren’t approved to prevent. This disease can be caused by several different species of virus and each of them may require an immune response.”