WHO Says Ebola Bundibugyo Vaccine Won’t Be Available for Six to Nine Months

The World Health Organization said a vaccine aimed at the Bundibugyo species driving the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda will not be available for six to nine months, as the number of suspected cases rose to 600.

“- Published The World Health Organization (WHO) says it could take up to nine months before a vaccine against this particular species of Ebola is ready”

BBC

WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing that there had been 139 deaths, and he said numbers were expected to rise.

BBC

BBC reported that 51 cases have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and two in neighbouring Uganda, with the first known case described as a nurse who developed symptoms and died on 24 April in Ituri’s provincial capital Bunia.

The BBC also quoted Tedros saying, "WHO assesses the risk of the epidemic as high at the national and regional levels, and low at the global level."

In parallel, the CDC issued a Health Alert Network advisory stating that as of May 18, no suspected, probable, or confirmed Ebola cases related to this outbreak had been reported in the United States.

WHO research and development blueprint lead Dr Vasee Moorthy said there are currently no approved vaccines for the Bundibugyo strain and that the more promising candidate could take six to nine months before enough doses are ready for trials.

Moorthy told NBC News that "It will depend on the animal data as to whether that is considered a promising candidate vaccine for Bundibugyo," and he said the other candidate may be available in two to three months but had not yet shown supporting results in animal studies.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Guardian reported that Dr Vasee Moorthy said there are "no doses of this which are currently available for clinical trial" for the most promising potential vaccine against Bundibugyo, and he said the information available suggested it was "likely to take six to nine months."

Scientific American said there is "no licensed vaccine or treatment" for this species, quoting Anne Ancia, the World Health Organization representative in the DRC.

The CDC advisory added that there is currently no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-licensed or authorized vaccine to protect against Bundibugyo virus infection, and it noted that the Ebola vaccine licensed in the United States is ERVEBO®.

As the outbreak expanded, WHO said it was prioritizing efforts to identify transmission chains, with Chikwe Ihekweazu telling reporters, "Our absolute priority now is to identify all the existing chains of transmission."

“By Nana Karikari, Senior Global Affairs Correspondent A rare and lethal strain of the Ebola virus is spreading rapidly across central Africa, triggering an international health emergency and exposing severe deficiencies in the global medical arsenal”

GBC Ghana Online

The BBC reported that healthcare workers were among those who had died and that some facilities were overwhelmed, quoting Medecins Sans Frontieres emergency programme manager Trish Newport saying, "We are full of suspect cases. We don't have any space".

The CDC advisory described the outbreak as occurring in areas affected by insecurity, population displacement, mining-related population movement, and frequent cross-border travel, all of which may increase the risk of further transmission.

It also stated that the incubation period for BVD ranges from 2 to 21 days after exposure and that a person infected with an orthoebolavirus is not considered contagious until after symptoms appear.

In Geneva, Tedros told journalists that after meeting on Tuesday, the emergency committee agreed the situation was "not a pandemic emergency," while also warning that the risk was high at national and regional levels.