By Staff Writer (media@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Aug 02, 2015 07:05 AM EDT

Preliminary studies suggested that a vaccine may completely protect people against the Ebola virus. Experts described the new findings as remarkable.

“We believe that the world is one the verge of an efficacious Ebola vaccine,” said assistant director-general Dr. Marie-PauleKieny.

The BBC reported that when the biggest Ebola outbreak happened in Guinea in December 2013, there were no known vaccines or drugs available for it.

The new clinical trial was conducted in Guinea and presented for the first time that there is an Ebola vaccine that protects people from the lethal disease. The study was published on the internet by The Lancet, showing that the vaccine offered 100 percent protection beginning 10 days after it was administered to patients. According to scientists, the vaccine may be the solution to the 18-month epidemic in West Africa.

ScienceMag wrote that the vaccine was initially developed by researchers at the Public Health Agency of Canada. The vaccine consists of the VSV or Vesicular Stomatitis Virus, with the Ebola surface protein integrated. It is one of two vaccines that are being tested at the moment in countries with reported cases of Ebola.

The trial was sponsored by the World Health Organization and funded by the Wellcome Trust and other partners, such as the governments of Canada and Norway. Almost all of the trial staff were from Guinea. The study was led by Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo of the WHO, based on a report by The Guardian. The vaccine was made by Merck. The other vaccine was made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

"This will go down in history as one of those hallmark public health efforts. We will teach about this in public health schools,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy in Twin Cities, Minnesota.

"It's a wonderful result and a fantastic illustration of how vaccines can be developed very quickly and can be used in an outbreak situation to control the disease," said Adrian Hill, a vaccine researcher at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

The information gathered from the trial will be forwarded to regulatory agencies to hopefully acquire a license for the vaccine that can be used for future Ebola epidemics. The vaccine will most likely be administered to individuals in danger during outbreaks and not to entire populations.

Based on the same BBC report, experts believe that the final effectiveness of the vaccine will be between 75 percent and 100 percent, as more data will be added to the preliminary findings.

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