DR Congo Ebola outbreak prompts urgent vaccine work as cases and deaths rise

Scientists at Oxford University say they have developed a new Ebola vaccine candidate that could be ready for use within months as the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo grows. The outbreak is centred on the country and has reached 750 suspected cases and 177 deaths, according to the supplied report. The species involved is Bundibugyo Ebola, a rare strain for which there is no proven vaccine yet.

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The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday and later raised the risk level in the Democratic Republic of Congo from high to very high. It said the regional risk is now high, while the international risk remains low. The organisation also stressed that the outbreak is not a pandemic.

Researchers said the experimental vaccine uses the same ChAdOx1 platform developed during the Covid pandemic. They said the technology can be adjusted quickly to target different infections, and in this case has been prepared with genetic code from the Bundibugyo species of Ebola. The vaccine uses a modified chimpanzee cold virus to carry genetic material into cells, training the immune system to recognise the disease without causing Ebola symptoms.

The immediate significance is that the outbreak is already large enough to trigger international emergency measures, while the vaccine work is still at an early stage. The WHO has said the candidate could be available for clinical trials in two to three months, but there are no guarantees it will prove effective. Animal research is under way in Oxford, and human trials would still be needed before any wider use.

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The development also highlights the continuing challenge of responding to Ebola outbreaks in central Africa, where rapid detection, containment and vaccine access can determine how far the disease spreads. The supplied report says the Serum Institute of India is lined up to mass produce the vaccine once Oxford can supply medical-grade material. Prof Lambe of the Oxford Vaccine Group said the team is preparing for a worst-case scenario and wants to be ready if the outbreak worsens.

What remains unclear is whether the candidate will work against this strain and how quickly it could move from laboratory testing to trials in people. The scale of the outbreak may continue to change, and the WHO has already signalled that the risk assessment could be revised again. The key developments to watch are the results of animal testing, the start of human trials and whether the outbreak can be contained before wider spread.

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