Russia is conducting preclinical testing of a vaccine designed to prevent Ebola infection, the country's chief epidemiologist, Anna Popova, told reporters on Tuesday.
"Such a vaccine is being developed by the state-run research center Vektor. At the moment, it is undergoing preclinical testing. This work has been accelerated as much as possible today," she said.
At this point, there are no registered and licensed vaccines or treatments for Ebola in the world. Several countries have already announced that their doctors are ready to test an Ebola vaccine on humans.
According to the World Health Organization, an Ebola outbreak in 2014 has taken 887 lives. It is the most deadly Ebola outbreak ever. Update reports indicate that the number of infected people has exceeded 1,600. The Ebola epidemic has swept across Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria.
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a highly infectious disease caused by the Ebola virus. It owes its name to a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the virus was identified for the first time in 1976. Ninety percent of the infections end up in the patients' death. No vaccine has been devised against Ebola fever.
All rights reserved by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
to our newsletter!
Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox