DID an experimental vaccine save a scientist in Germany from Ebola? The lives of other scientists might depend on the answer.
On 12 March a researcher at the in Hamburg accidentally stuck her finger with a needle carrying Ebola virus. Worried colleagues gave her an experimental Ebola vaccine that had not previously been tested on people. It is being developed mainly to protect lab workers from just such mistakes, which have killed researchers in the past.
Whether the vaccine worked is still not clear. Although the woman remains healthy, it could be that she never developed an infection in the first place. It should be possible to discover the truth, as an infection would elicit antibodies to many more Ebola proteins than the vaccine alone. However, Stephan Günther, head of virology at the institute, says its labs do not have the right tests to identify which antibodies the woman has, so the scientists hope to send samples to a US military lab that does.
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