THE spread of the deadly Ebola virus has been a frightening yet heart-warming experience. Frightening because it took hold so fast, killing more than 11,000 people and infected 28,000 more. Heart-warming because it inspired the best in human nature, with volunteers coming forward to risk their own lives to care for those who were suffering and to help contain the outbreak.

Now it appears the world is on the verge of a medical answer with an experimental vaccine producing "remarkable" preliminary results.

It is too early to believe the fight has been won but there is more room for optimism than at any stage since the word Ebola was introduced into the public consciousness. The virus will almost certainly come again but, next time, the world will be better equipped to put up a fight.

And the breakthrough provides the opportunity to pay tribute to all those who have left their homes to play a part in that fight.

People like Paula Sansom, from Middleton St George, near Darlington, who was featured in The Northern Echo last October, after she flew to Sierra Leone to co-ordinate medical supplies being used to treat victims of the epidemic.

People like Army Warrant Officer Mark Cussons, of the Royal Army Medical Corps Reserves, based at Norton, near Stockton, who was charged with ensuring no contamination occurred at a hospital in Sierra Leone.

And people like the 30 soldiers from 34 Field Hospital, based at Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Strensall, York, who helped treat those who had become infected while treating Ebola patients.

These are just a few examples of the courage and selflessness evoked by the Ebola epidemic. There are many more.

As the world waits for confirmation that Ebola can be controlled, we thank those who risked so much to help deal with the emerging disaster.