The ongoing Ebola outbreak in central Africa, driven by the Bundibugyo virus, has reached a critical point, with the World Health Organization (WHO) announcing that a promising vaccine will not be available for another six to nine months. This revelation comes as the number of suspected cases climbs to 600.
In a recent press briefing, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, addressed the challenging situation unfolding in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. He confirmed that the outbreak has already resulted in 139 fatalities, with expectations that this number will unfortunately increase.
Authorities suspect that the virus began spreading several months ago, possibly exacerbated by a “super-spreader event,” such as a funeral, which occurred in early May. This event likely facilitated the rapid transmission of the virus.
The situation is further complicated by ongoing conflict in Ituri province, where armed clashes have displaced more than 100,000 people recently. As Dr. Tedros explained, these circumstances hinder effective disease detection and response efforts, as health workers are unable to provide necessary care and surveillance when they are forced to flee from escalating violence.
Adding to the complexity, other diseases common in the region, like malaria and typhoid, share initial symptoms with Ebola, leading to potential delays in accurate diagnosis and treatment.
In response to criticism from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who suggested the WHO’s declaration of the outbreak was “a little late,” Dr. Tedros remarked that such comments likely stem from a misunderstanding of the situation on the ground.
“Maybe on what the secretary said, it could be from a lack of understanding of how IHR [international health regulations] works, and the responsibilities of WHO and other entities. We don’t replace the country’s work, we only support them,” said Tedros.
The Trump administration withdrew the US from the WHO earlier this year.
Dr Vasee Moorthy, who leads the WHO’s research and development blueprint, said the most promising potential vaccine against Bundibugyo uses the same basis as Ebola vaccines that target the Zaire strain.
“There are no doses of this which are currently available for clinical trial … The information that we have is this is likely to take six to nine months,” he said.
Doses of an alternative, which uses the same platform developed by Oxford University as AstraZeneca’s Covid jabs, could be available for clinical trials in two to three months, he said – but there is “a lot of uncertainty” as data from animal tests of efficacy are not yet available.
The outbreak was made public by African health officials on Friday, and the WHO declared it a public health emergency of international concern early on Sunday morning.
Tedros said: “WHO assesses the risk of the epidemic as high at the national and regional levels, and low at the global level.”
Modelling from Imperial College London suggests there could already be more than 1,000 cases of Ebola in the affected region.
Officials told the briefing that access issues, including frequently cancelled flights, were complicating efforts to get tests and other supplies to Ituri province.
“Our absolute priority now is to identify all the existing chains of transmission,” said Chikwe Ihekweazu, the WHO emergencies lead. “That will then enable us to really define the scale of the outbreak and be able to provide care.”
