Commercial ebola vaccine 'unlikely' say researchers

[xchrom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19112510


Ebola is one of the most feared viruses known to science

***SNIP


As a result of this funding, several vaccine candidates have been developed and have shown themselves effective in animal trials.

Two companies, Sarepta and Tekmira have begun human safety trials of their vaccines.

But in recent days, both companies have been told by the Defense Department to temporarily stop work on their vaccines due to funding constraints. It is expected that a decision to either resume testing or completely terminate the contracts will be made by early September.

Scientists say their understanding of the nature of the virus has markedly improved over the past decade. But the chances of turning that knowledge into a vaccine are very dependent on money.

[hedgehog]

1. Has the source of the outbreaks ever been identified?

[mopinko]

2. why is the defense department doing this?

ok, i know why, but still. not surprised that this is the sort of thing they would be looking to cut. who cares if gi's get ebola, or bring it back home, as long as we have overpriced fast planes and things that go boom.