ST. PETERSBURG, December 29. /TASS/. A group of scientists at the St. Petersburg-based Research Institute of Influenza have developed a vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus and its trials are due to complete in Africa in February, the director of the institute said on Monday.
“The candidate vaccine against Ebola created by a group of young scientists of our institute is undergoing tests for genetic stability,” Oleg Kiselev said, adding that the vaccine will be called “candidate” until its industrial production begins.
The vaccine has been already sent to the Virology Center of the Ministry of Defense and will be first tested on animals. The clinical tests involving volunteers will be conducted in Africa.
All the stages of trials are due to wrap up in February, Kiselev said.
The latest figures by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that the death toll from the current Ebola outbreak has reached 7,693 and as many as 19,695 have been infected. Most deaths were reported in the hardest-hit West African countries — Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.