TEMPO.CO, London - Scientists have succeeded in conducting ZMapp vaccine tests to fight Ebola virus on macaques. The effectiveness of the vaccine was claimed to be at 100 percent, even when the infection has reached a relatively late stage.
The trials conducted on 18 rhesus macaques infected with Ebola virus. The infection was at a late stage that would be fatal for the macaques. The results showed that the ZMapp was effective in taming the Ebola virus.
Researchers have been using the ZMapp that has been developed as a cure and as a therapy. Earlier, the ZMapp vaccine had been injected with additional serum to perfect its performance in curing the late stage of Ebola virus.
"Before, ZMapp was a total mystery. This is an incredible improvement on those earlier cocktails, to have 100% clearance and most importantly that clearance when they’ve started to show outward signs of infection," Prof Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham, told the BBC.
The findings had been published in Nature and were considered as very important steps forward. Peter Piot, the director of the London of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the results can be basic proofs that the ZMapp vaccine may be an effective treatment of Ebola infection in humans.
"It is now critical that human trials start as soon as possible," Piot said, as quoted by BBC.
However, the limited number of the vaccine was predicted to be insufficient for 20,000 patients infected by the virus. Researchers still have to put their best efforts to stop the virus in West Africa.
YOLANDA RYAN ARMINDYA| BBC
