China has just agreed on a locally developed "experimental Ebola vaccine" for clinical testing, the official Xinhua news agency stated Thursday. It cited the logistic unit of People's Liberation Army.
All around the world, scientists are battling to develop Ebola vaccines after the worst outbreak of this virus worldwide. The virus has already claimed over 6,000 lives in West Africa just this year.
The Academy of Military Medical Sciences is developing the Chinese vaccine according to Xinhua. It is also believed by the news agency that a military research unit also taking part in making a drug to work as a cure for the disease.
Soon to take clinical trials are the Canadian-made and American-made vaccines as stated by a Chinese official of the news agency. However, the news agency did not disclosed when will the trial tests take place, but other media outlets said that it will be any time this month.
One of the frontrunners in creating ebola vaccine is the GlaxoSmithKline PLC. This British drugmaker is not alone in its journey with a vaccine being developed by NewLink and Merck.
Tianjin CanSino Biotechnology Inc, a Chinese biotech firm, is also participating in the development of Ebola vaccine according to Xinhua.
Ebola virus disease or just Ebola, is a disease affecting some primates and humans which was caused by Ebola viruses. The disease's signs and symptoms normally begin between 2 days to 3 weeks after contacting the virus as sore throat, headaches, fever, and muscle pain. Typically, diarrhea, rash and vomiting follow together with some functional issues with kidneys and liver. Some patients at this point are externally and internally bleeding.
Ebola has a threat of fatality, killing between 25% and 90% of those victims affected by the virus, with an average of 50%. This incident most of the time, is caused by low blood pressure due to fluid loss. Typically, this happens 6 to 16 days after the appearance of the symptoms.