The Beijing Institute of Biotechnology and the Tianjin CanSino Biotechnology have developed an experimental vaccine. It has been found to be safe in the first phase-one trial.

The vaccine improves an immune system response in recipients. Study's lead researcher Fengcai Zhu from the Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control in China said that on the basis of their findings, the newly developed Ebola vaccine has good scope.

"A significant advantage of this type of vaccine is that stable and much easier to store or transport in tropical areas with inadequate cold-chain capacity, such as Africa", said Zhu. All the tested Ebola virus vaccines are based on the virus strain from the Zaire outbreak in 1976.

In the current trial, the researchers have tested the safety and immunogenicity of a novel Ebola vaccine. This vaccine is based on the 2014 Zaire Guinea Ebola strain. In the trial, 120 healthy Chinese adults were enrolled and they were randomly assigned either to have placebo, a low dose, or high dose of the vaccine.

The trial took place at a site in Taizhou County, Jiangsu Province, China. After 28 days of the vaccination, the researchers found that 38 out of 40 participants in the low-dose group and all the 40 in the high-dose group witnessed a positive immune response to the vaccine. In comparison to the participants in the low-dose group, the ones in the high-dose group produced higher quantities of antibodies.

It shall however, be noted that the study findings have not confirmed whether the level of immune response would be able to offer protection against Ebola virus.

"Whether this candidate vaccine could become a final vaccine for widespread use against Ebola outbreaks is still uncertain, because of the issues of HIV-1 acquisition rates and the pre-existing immunity, especially in west Africa", said Zhu.