Vaccines show promise for Marburg, Ebola viruses

[wschalle]

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Canadian and US scientists have developed vaccines that protect monkeys from the deadly Marburg and Ebola viruses and show promise for humans, a study published in Nature Medicine magazine said today.

It will take five or six years to complete the research to show the experimental vaccines can be safe and effective for people exposed to the contagious viruses, which are almost always fatal, said Steven Jones, one of the Canadian-based scientists behind the study. "The data would suggest that instead of 100% chance of dying, they would have an 80% chance of survival," Jones told reporters.
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There is no vaccine or treatment other than drugs to relieve pain for victims, said Jones, who will return to Angola this week. "One of the most nasty, foul things about this disease is that it is spread by close contact," he said, noting it often kills relatives of the ill. If you could use this vaccine in the field and vaccinate family members of known cases, you could be protecting those people who are putting their lives at risk for their loved ones," Jones said.
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The new Ebola vaccine has some advantages, said Thomas Geisbert, a top virologist with the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease. It is a live vaccine that grows inside the recipient for a short period of time, generating a rapid and strong immune response, Geisbert told reporters. The team will now produce the vaccines in a regulated facility, and repeat studies to ensure they work and are safe.
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LINK:http://www.sabcnews.com/world/other/0,2172,105910,00.html