The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the development of a vaccine against a rare strain of Ebola spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could take up to nine months.
“Elchi” reports that WHO advisor Dr. Vasee Moorthy stated on Wednesday that two vaccine candidates are being developed against this virus strain, known as “Bundibugyo,” but neither has yet undergone clinical trials.
Number of infection cases is rising: International emergency declared
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that to date, 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths have been recorded during the epidemic, and these figures are expected to rise considering the time required for virus detection.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, Ghebreyesus stated that 51 cases have been confirmed in the DRC, where the first case was reported, and 2 cases in neighboring Uganda. On Sunday, the WHO declared a “public health emergency of international concern” due to the epidemic, but emphasized that the situation has not yet reached the level of a pandemic (global epidemic). Ghebreyesus stated that the emergency committee’s risk assessment shows that the epidemic is high at the national and regional levels, but low at the global level. Confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been detected in the Ituri region in the east, which is the epicenter of the epidemic, as well as in the North Kivu province. It was reported that two infection cases in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, came from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and one of them has died.
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