Four inoculated primates were completely protected from a lethal dose of the virus that killed their unprotected cage mates. We have not known if immunity to the virus exists or what parts of the immune response are important. Our studies show that animals can launch an effective immune response against Ebola virus, and we can use knowledge of this response to design a vaccine that protects non-human primates from infection. Although much more work needs to be done, we hope this moves us closer to new vaccines and treatments for Ebola and other viruses. Once it gets a foothold, the Ebola virus kills quickly, giving a person's body little time to launch an effective immune response.
Infected individuals suffer severe pain, high fever and extensive internal bleeding.
Although the virus periodically strikes humans, scientists do not know where it resides in nature between outbreaks and how it might cross the species barrier. The disease is transmitted through close contact with bodily fluids and can take days or weeks to incubate, manifesting itself only with the sudden onset of fever, weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rashes and reduced kidney and liver functions. Later, victims start to hemorrhage and bleed through the nose, mouth, eyes and other orifices. Blood and other bodily fluids also begin seeping through the skin, producing painful blisters. Eventually the internal organs will begin to liquefy and the patient may start to excrete his own hemorrhaging digestive tract.