AFRO-NETS> Scientists Announce Breakthrough on Ebola Vaccine

[Leela McCullough <leela@healthnet.org>]

Scientists Announce Breakthrough on Ebola Vaccine
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Source:UNWire, Thursday, August 7, 2003
 
 
Scientists have developed a vaccine that protects monkeys from Ebola 
with a single shot, the BBC reported yesterday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3126365.stm
 
Scientists at the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center at 
the U.S. National Institutes of Health http://www.niaid.nih.gov/vrc/ 
and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases 
http://www.usamriid.army.mil/ collaborated to conduct the research 
over the past three years.
 
The scientists gave eight monkeys a booster shot, then injected them 
with the Ebola virus. The single injection protected all eight mon-
keys against Ebola even those who received high doses of the virus.
 
If the vaccine proves to be effective in humans, it could be used to 
stop the spread of Ebola through a strategy known as ring vaccination 
vaccinating everyone who has been in contact with an infected person 
the same technique that has been successfully used to stop the spread 
of smallpox (BBC Online, Aug. 6).
 
Since the 1970s, Ebola has killed hundreds of people in Africa and 
possibly tens of thousands of endangered apes (James Janega, Chicago 
Tribune, Aug. 7).
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0308070164aug07,1,4552954.story?coll=chi-printnews-hed 
 
 
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Dr. Leela McCullough
Director of Information Services
SATELLIFE
30 California Street
Watertown, MA 02472, USA
Tel: + 1-617-926-9400
Fax: + 1-617-926-1212
mailto:leela@usa.healthnet.org
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