. Current Ebola outbreak is worst since disease was discovered in 1976

. So far there have been more than 1,200 cases and 672 people have died

. There is no cure and no vaccine available to treat or prevent the disease

. Around four drugs are in the development stage in the U.S.

. But researchers say it is difficult to generate funding to progress vaccines

. First drug to prevent the vicious virus is two to six years off, scientists say

 

The first Ebola vaccine could be available in two to six years, experts say but warn a lack of funding could hamper vital clinical trials. At least four new drugs are in the developmental stage in labs across the U.S. with trials involving primates yielding positive results. But researchers warn a lack of funding threatens the speed at which the first preventative jab could be available for human use.

 

Dr Thomas Geisbert of the University of Texas said he believes a vaccine will be approved in the next two to six years. Dr Geisbert, whose lab is working on some of the drugs, said: 'There are at least four vaccines that can protect against Ebola (in monkeys). 'But how do you take this to the next level?' He said he believes a vaccine will be available from two to six years. 'I hate to say this, but it really depends on financial support for the small companies that develop these vaccines.

'Human studies are expensive and require a lot of government dollars.

 

'With Ebola, there's a small global market - there's not a big incentive for a large pharmaceutical company to make an Ebola vaccine, so it's going to require government funding.'

 

Dr Geisbert, who has studied the Ebola virus since 1988, told Scientific American there are three to five preventative vaccines that look promising, having yielded positive results when tested on primates. He said many of the drugs in development are at the stage where research teams are trying to get the funds to carry out human studies. He said: 'The hang-up point with these vaccines is the phase I trials in humans. That’s where scientists get frustrated because we know these vaccines protect animals and we don’t quite understand the regulatory process of why things can’t move faster. I can’t give you an answer as to why it’s taking so long.'

 

The Ebola outbreak rampaging through West Africa is the worst recorded, since the disease was discovered four decades ago. More than 670 people have died, while another 1,200 have been infected.

 

The disease, first reported in a small village in Guinea in February, has swept into neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia. But on Friday officials confirmed the disease had spread to Nigeria where U.S. citizen Patrick Sawyer died, having flown from Liberia to the capital of Lagos.

 

Health care workers face a constant battle to save people. There is no cure and no effective vaccines available to prevent the virus spreading. Doctors and nurses can only attempt to ease the suffering of those struck by the crippling headaches, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea, symptomatic of the disease.

 

They can only attempt to try and bolster the patient's immune system, giving them regular fluids, checking their oxygen levels and blood pressure, as they would in treating any other infection.

 

A vaccine to stop future outbreaks in their tracks could be years away. 

 

Dr Derek Gatherer, a specialist at the University of Lancaster, said research into experimental vaccines has been going on for decades. He said the first could be available in the next 'three to five years'.

 

Dr Gatherer said: 'This infection rate is the same as flu. So it's not as virulent as measles for instance which has an infection rate of 15 with any outbreak causing a slew of cases. 'To stop Ebola's spread hygiene is vital but in Africa it's impossible to get people washing their hands five times a day in places where there's not even running water. 'The World Health Organisation and other agencies could suffocate outbreaks fairly easily when they were contained in rural villages but West Africa is so urbanised in comparison it's much more difficult to contain and we're now out of our comfort zone.' He said public alarm was justified because the current outbreak is the biggest the world has ever seen.

 

'The previous record was 400 cases at the turn of the Millennium. Now we have had 1,200 - already three times that number - and the first in a big city,' he said. 'It's an emerging disease that only appeared in the 70s. There were no records of it during the colonial period of the 50s and 60s and there would have been because it's such a horrible death. 'In the latter stages you get a haemmorhagic fever with blood blisters bursting from your nose and mouth. Aids spread from Central Africa to the western world in the 1980s - Ebola could do the same.'

 

During the last decade, significant steps have been taken towards creating a vaccine. Drugs have been designed, and tested, and shown to work in non-human primates.

But researchers have faced problems generating funding. At least four vaccines are in development. Despite the disease rampaging through West Africa, there is not a huge potential market for a large pharmaceutical compnay to capitalise on. It means the U.S. government is left to deal with smaller, niche biopharmaceutical companies.

 

'I don’t see why anybody except the U.S. government would get involved in developing these kinds of countermeasures,' Dr. Sina Bavari of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Frederick, Maryland told NBC. 'There is no market in it.'

 

Professor Andrew Easton, professor of virology at the University of Warwick School of Life Sciences, said: 'There have been some advances in Ebola virus research. We now fully understand the genetic makeup of the virus strains that have been associated with human infection.'Five distinct strains have been identified, of which three have been associated with large outbreaks of Ebola virus disease. 'Modern diagnostic tools are available to rapidly identify Ebola virus, though access to these in the isolated rural areas of Africa remains problematic for financial and practical reasons. 'This is unfortunate because rapid diagnosis early in an outbreak is likely to reduce the impact of the infection. 'In terms of treatment there have been no significant advances at all.'

 

He added: 'The overall picture is that while we know a great deal about the virus we have a long way to go in providing effective and accessible prevention and treatment for those at risk.'

 

By LIZZIE PARRY

Dailymail