An Ebola vaccine designed for inhalation has shown promise by protecting monkeys from the virus, a new research has found.
According to a LiveScience report, researchers said that the vaccine will now be tested on a small group of subjects.
The new vaccine is derived from an engineered human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV3). This flu virus has been tweaked to carry genes from the Ebola virus that encode proteins found on its outer coat.
In the new study, researchers gave six monkeys the inhaled vaccine. One month after, they injected the test subjects with an Ebola virus, reportedly 1,000 times the level considered to be deadly.
The researchers discovered that the engineered virus gained access to the primates' respiratory tracts and multiplied there, which triggered the cells to reproduce the coat of the Ebola virus.
The immune system sees the coat as a foreign invader and gets activated, protecting the body as a response.
The vaccine could offer several benefits compared to other vaccines, but further testing is still necessary before it can be used in a formal clinical setting, according to study co-author and University of Texas virologist, Alexander Bukreyev.
According to Bukreyev, one significant advantage of the inhaled vaccine is that it doesn't require a medical professional to deliver the formulation since it can be used with a breathing device.
Ebola virus has affected the health of over 27,000 people in Africa and already claimed more than 15,000 lives, based on a report from the World Health Organization.
The virus is easily spread through bodily fluids or direct contact with blood from an infected person. However, the virus does not appear to spread via food, water, or air.
The National Institutes of Health is conducting an ongoing Phase 1 trial of the inhaled vaccine to test its safety.
More studies will be needed to establish the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, and this means that it might take at least three years before it can be made available in the field, said Bukreyev.
The details of the findings can be found in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
