Ebola, Marburg vaccines developed

FREDERICK, Md., June 6 (UPI) -- In a major breakthrough, U.S. and Canadian scientists report developing vaccines against Ebola and Marburg effective among primates.

The vaccines were developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Frederick, Md. A study on their discoveries appears in this month's Nature Medicine.

Canadian researchers Heinz Feldmann and Steven Jones, along with Thomas Geisbert of USAMRIID report the vaccines have proven 100 percent effective in protecting monkeys against infection from these often deadly viruses.

Monkeys are known to develop hemorrhagic fever symptoms that are similar to those observed in humans infected by these viruses.

The safety of vaccines in monkeys is a promising indicator of their real potential for use in humans, the researchers said.