• WHO prioritising three experimental drugs; promising single-dose vaccines are up to nine months from testing
• Infections have exceeded 1,000, with 246 deaths reported since mid-May
• People crammed in displacement camps risk ‘catastrophic spread’
• Rare good news as one patient recovers
GENEVA: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said its advisory groups have recommended clinical trials for vaccines and treatments that could be useful against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, as the agency’s chief visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help contain a deadly outbreak.
No vaccine or treatment currently exists for the strain behind the outbreak gripping eastern Congo. In response, the WHO convened expert groups to evaluate potential vaccines and therapeutics for prioritised evaluation in human trials.
The groups reviewed several promising products, recommending that “all the products identified and considered be used exclusively within clinical trials to generate robust data and ensure safe, ethical, and effective research”, the UN health agency said in a statement.
The WHO recommended prioritising three experimental treatments: Mapp Biopharmaceutical’s MBP134, Regeneron’s maftivimab, and Gilead Sciences’ antiviral remdesivir.
For prevention, Gilead’s experimental oral antiviral obeldesivir was highlighted for post-exposure use, although its effectiveness will depend on robust contact tracing.
Among vaccines, a single-dose candidate known as rVSV Bundibugyo was seen as the most promising, though it is unlikely to be ready for trials for another seven to nine months. Another candidate, ChAdOx1 Bundibugyo, could be available for testing within two to three months.
The WHO noted Merck’s Ervebo, the only licensed Ebola vaccine, should not be deployed outside research settings because evidence of protection against the Bundibugyo virus remains inconclusive.
“In the meantime, our priority is to stop transmission with tools that we have used for decades of Ebola responses, which include disease surveillance, rapid testing and diagnosis, contact tracing, isolation and care for patients, infection prevention and control, community engagement, and safe and dignified burials,” the WHO said.
Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who reached Kinshasa late on Thursday, was scheduled to travel on Friday to Ituri, the remote northeastern province at the epicentre of the country’s 17th outbreak of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever, but the trip was pushed back by a day.
“That thing can be stopped,” Mr Tedros said of the outbreak upon his arrival, assuring the Congolese people in a message on X: “I want you to know that you are not alone.”
There have been at least 1,077 suspected cases of Ebola since the outbreak was declared May 15, including 246 deaths, the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
The virus is already present in three provinces and neighbouring Uganda, where nine confirmed infections, including one death, have been recorded.
In rare good news, the WHO announced on Friday that a patient in Congo recovered on Wednesday, left the hospital, and was discharged after two negative tests.
“If Ebola comes, we’ll be wiped out as we’re packed like sardines,” Dorcas Mapenzi said at the Kingonze camp on the outskirts of Bunia.
Deborah Nzale, a widow living with nine people in a 32-square-foot shelter, echoed the fears. “We sleep piled on top of each other, with everyone’s sweat,” Nzale said. “If a single person gets infected here in this camp, everyone will die.”
Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2026