First Ebola vaccine trials look positive

Early results from the first test of an Ebola vaccine in people shows it's safe and appears to be working as designed, doctors reported Wednesday.

This particular vaccine is genetically engineered and showed no major side effects in 20 healthy adults who had received a dose of the vaccine back in September.

Scientists are now preparing for larger trials in West Africa next year that will show definitively whether or not the vaccine works.

"The results of the vaccine trial are promising and show that this particular vaccine is able to induce protective levels of immunity," explains University of Pittsburg Medical Center's Center for Health Security senior associate Dr. Amesh Adalja. "The trial also begins to provide a basis for selecting the optimal dose needed to achieve protection against Ebola."

The vaccine is being developed by the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. The process has been fast-tracked in light of the current catastrophic Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has claimed more than 5,000 lives.

"Based on these positive results from the first human trial of this candidate vaccine, we are continuing our accelerated plan for larger trials to determine if the vaccine is efficacious in preventing Ebola infection," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The researchers reported no serious side effects. But two people who received the higher-dose vaccine briefly spiked fevers - one above 103 degrees - which disappeared within a day.

The real test will come if and when the vaccine is used to protect doctors, nurses and other health care workers who treat actual Ebola patients. They are at especially high risk. The World Health Organization says 588 health care workers have been infected with Ebola and 337 have died of it.