DR Congo and Uganda Ebola outbreak drives race to develop Bundibugyo vaccine

A deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring Uganda is prompting an urgent push to develop a vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain. More than 1,100 people are reported to be infected across the two countries, and nearly 250 suspected deaths have been recorded. The outbreak is described as the 17th Ebola outbreak in the DRC and the third caused by the Bundibugyo strain.

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The World Health Organization said its experts had identified a single-dose vaccine using the rVSV platform as the most promising candidate. The agency estimated it would take seven to nine months before the new vaccine could be ready to be tested on humans. The non-profit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative said on Monday that it had reached a deal with the University of Texas Medical Branch to develop the candidate.

The outbreak has already crossed the border into Uganda, underlining the regional nature of the emergency. The supplied report says the true extent of the virus's spread is feared to be wider than the confirmed figures suggest. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited the epicentre of the outbreak in the DRC at the weekend, reflecting the level of international concern.

The urgency is heightened by the fact that there are no approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo strain. The only licensed Ebola vaccine targets the more common Zaire strain and uses the same rVSV platform, which is why researchers are trying to adapt that approach. The outbreak is also unfolding in a context where rapid clinical testing and manufacturing are being pursued while transmission is still active.

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The Bundibugyo strain has been the focus of limited research for years, but the current outbreak has brought that work into sharp focus. The supplied report says research from 2013 showed the candidate developed by Thomas Geisbert provided very strong protection against Bundibugyo in monkeys. It also says the vaccine had remained unused for more than a decade because of a lack of interest, particularly from pharmaceutical firms.

What remains unclear is how quickly any candidate can move into human trials and whether the outbreak can be contained before case numbers rise further. The report does not provide a full breakdown of where the infections are concentrated inside the DRC or how many deaths are confirmed in each country. The next developments to watch are the pace of vaccine development, the spread of cases in Uganda and the DRC, and whether the WHO's estimated timeline can be shortened enough to affect the response.

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