First Ebola vaccine trial of the outbreak begins in DR Congo
Volunteers in Bunia received Ervebo to test whether the vaccine, made for another Ebola strain, protects against the Bundibugyo virus behind an outbreak with over 4,600 deaths.
The World Health Organization has announced the start of the first clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine in the outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of Congo. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said participants were given the Ervebo vaccine in Bunia, capital of north-eastern Ituri province and the epicentre of the epidemic.
Ervebo is approved against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola. The full-scale human trial will test whether it offers any cross-protection against the Bundibugyo species that is driving the current outbreak, for which no approved vaccine exists. Tedros said the DRC-led study would also help show whether candidate vaccines designed specifically for Bundibugyo work.
Congo declared its 17th and worst-ever Ebola outbreak in May. It has since reported more than 9,700 cases and over 4,600 deaths, and the WHO has declared a public health emergency of international concern, its second-highest alert level. The disease has now been reported in four countries across eastern, central and western Africa.
Kenya announced a second Ebola death on Friday, a close relative of its first patient, while saying there was no evidence of community spread. In Nigeria, health authorities are still investigating how a woman confirmed as the country's first case, the wife of a Swiss diplomat, became infected.