Source: The Toronto Star, Associated Press report [edited]
<http://www.thestar.com/article/609787>

Ebola scientists turn to Canadian vaccine
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It was a nightmare scenario — a scientist accidentally pricking her
finger with a needle used to inject the deadly ebolavirus into lab
mice. Within hours, members of a far-flung but tightly bound
community of virologists, biologists, and others were tensely
gathered in a transatlantic telephone conference trying to map out a
way to save her life.

Less than 24 hours later, an experimental vaccine never before tried
on humans was on its way to Germany from Canada’s National
Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. And within 48 hours of the 12
Mar 2009 accident, the at-risk scientist, a 45-year-old woman whose
identity has not been revealed, was injected with the vaccine. So
far, so good. If the woman is still healthy next Thursday [2 Apr
2009], she can consider herself safe.

Ebola hemorrhagic fever, seen mainly in Africa, is one of the world’s
most feared diseases. It begins with flu-like symptoms, followed by
bloody diarrhea and vomiting. Days later, some victims bleed through
the nose, mouth and eyes. Depending on the strain of virus, it can
kill up to 90 per cent of victims. There is no cure. The virus is
spread through direct contact with the blood or secretions of an
infected person.

Dr Stephan Guenther, head of the Bernhard Nocht Institute for
Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, where the researcher was working, said
tests so far show the scientist is healthy and free of the virus. The
peak period for an outbreak during the 21-day ebolavirus incubation
period passed this week, he said. “We are now on the downside,”
Guenther said, noting that with each passing day the chance of
infection taking root diminishes.

But… and here is the “disclaimer”…
It’s not entirely clear the researcher was actually infected with the
virus. At the time of the accident, she was wearing 3 layers of
protective gloves, and though the needle stuck her, the plunger of
the syringe was not pushed so it’s not certain the virus entered her
bloodstream. That means scientists may never know if the vaccine
worked or she was just lucky. There are 2 other known accidents
involving researchers who came into direct contact with a similar
strain of Ebola. A Russian researcher died, and a British scientist
became ill but survived.

After the needle stick, Guenther knew he had to act swiftly. He
rushed an email to fellow scientists, including Dr Heinz Feldmann,
chief of the virology laboratory at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories,
a research facility in Hamilton, Montana. “We considered this as
serious as (the Russian) case, in terms of the exposure,” Feldmann
said. Feldmann was part of an international group of experts from the
Canadian Public Health Agency, US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious
Diseases, the Boston University, and the University of Texas Medical
Branch. Feldmann, Guenther, and several other experts took part in
the teleconference debating the options. The option that emerged as
the strongest was the vaccine that had been developed by Feldmann and
collaborating researchers at several institutions. Much of the key
work was done about 9 years ago at the microbiology research lab in
Winnipeg where Feldmann worked at the time. Although the vaccine is
based on a different kind of virus, researchers used genetic
engineering to make the virus look like Ebola, triggering an immune
system response.

[Byline: Melissa Eddy, Mike Stobbe]