While the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa claimed more than 10,000 lives, researchers from the School of Veterinary Medicine cracked the code in creating an Ebola whole virus vaccine that has been shown to effectively protect monkeys exposed to the virus.
This novel vaccine presents a complete range of genetic material and proteins to the host, offering a broader, more robust immune effect.Whole virus vaccines have been successfully used to prevent serious human diseases, from polio and influenza to human papillomavirus-mediated cervical cancer. While not tested on humans to date, the successful primate results give great hope for this breakthrough vaccine—for humans and animals here and across the globe.