US experimental Ebola vaccine passes safety test
美國試驗埃博拉疫苗通過安全測試

The first experimental Ebola vaccine to be tested in humans appears safe and capable of stimulating the immune system. The vaccine is designed to spur the immune system's production of anti-Ebola antibodies. Volunteers developed the antibodies within four weeks of getting the shots at the National Institutes of Health.

According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, half of the test group received a higher-dose shot, and those people produced more antibodies. Some people also developed a different set of virus-fighting immune cells, named T cells, the study found. That may be important in fending off Ebola, as prior research found that monkeys protected by the vaccine also had that response.

The researchers reported no serious side effects. But two people who received the higher-dose vaccine briefly had fevers, which disappeared within a day.