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By Kate Kelland
LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The first people vaccinated withan experimental Ebola shot being developed by Merck andNewLink have had no serious side effects so far, but afew experienced mild fever, Swiss researchers said on Tuesday.
The shot, one of several being fast-tracked through clinicaltrials in the hope they can be approved for use in the Ebolaepidemic raging in West Africa, is undergoing initial humansafety tests at the University Hospitals of Geneva.
"After his or her injection, each volunteer was kept underobservation for 1.5 hours at the clinical trials unit,"scientists at the Swiss hospital said in a statement.
"To date, no major side effects have been observed after theinjections, which triggered the expected inflammatory responses.They (the inflammatory responses) have been weak to moderate,with limited cases of mild fever," it added.
Since 10 November, 34 volunteers have been vaccinated withthe shot, known as VSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine, at the request ofthe World Health Organization (WHO).
Trials have also begun in the United States, Canada, Germanyand Gabon, and similar trials should start soon in Kenya.
This is the first data from human testing of theMerck/Newlink shot. It follows positive news last week about aGlaxoSmithKline candidate Ebola vaccine, which caused noserious side effects and produced an immune response in 20volunteers in early-stage trials.
A version of GSK's vaccine targeting only the Zaire strainof Ebola which is causing the current outbreak is undergoingsafety trials in Britain, Mali and Switzerland.
A trial of an Ebola vaccine from Johnson & Johnson is scheduled to start in January.
The Ebola epidemic is the largest ever recorded and has sofar infected around 16,000 people, killing almost 6,000 of them,according to latest WHO figures. The vast majority of cases anddeaths have been in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Some Ebola experts say it is unlikely the epidemic can bebrought under control without the use of a vaccine, which ifsuccessful could protect healthy people from being infected withthe contagious and deadly virus.
Merck announced last month that it would buy the rights toNewLink's vaccine for $50 million. (Editing by Catherine Evans)
