Experimental vaccine provides 'long-term' immunity against Ebola in monkeys

A new study has revealed that experimental vaccines have shown to provide "long-term" immunity against Ebola virus in monkeys, the raising a prospect of successful human trials.

The experiments by the US National Institutes of Health showed immunity could last at least 10 months, which includes a vaccine being developed by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, the BBC reported.

It uses a genetically modified chimp virus containing components of two species of Ebola - Zaire, which is currently circulating in West Africa, and the common Sudan species and the viral vaccine does not replicate inside the body, but it is hoped the immune system will react to the Ebola component of the vaccine and develop immunity.

The experiment showed crab-eating macaques all survived what would have been a fatal dose of Ebola virus five weeks later, however, only half survived an infection 10 months after immunisation.

The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine.