Ebola vaccine trial begins in Oxford

BBC, or British Broadcasting Corporation, Wednesday reported that a trial of an experimental vaccine against the Ebola virus is beginning in Oxford.

The first group of 60 healthy volunteers will be injected with the vaccine, which is being developed by by GlaxoSmithKline, a British pharmaceutical giant, and the US National Institutes of Health.

The experimental vaccine is being fast tracked at an astonishing rate due to the urgency of the epidemic, said the British media outlet.

Normally it would "take years" of human trials before a completely new vaccine was approved for use, reported BBC.

The Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, and the UK Department for International Development are funding the trials.

As of Sept 16, the total number of cases attributed to Ebola virus disease in West Africa had reached 4,985, including 2,461 deaths. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are the three hardest-hit countries.