As an Ebola outbreak in Uganda spread to the nation’s capital, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, said on Wednesday that a clinical trial of vaccines to treat the Sudan strain of the disease could begin in the coming weeks.
On September 20, the nation of East Africa declared an Ebola outbreak, claiming the Sudan strain was to blame for the infections.
54 Ebola cases and 19 fatalities had been confirmed as of October 12 by Uganda’s health ministry.
There have been concerns that the Sudan strain is not currently the subject of a vaccine, making it difficult to control the spread of infection in Uganda.
Tedros stated that several vaccines were currently being developed that could deal with the Sudan strain during a virtual address to a gathering of regional health officials from Africa held in Kampala.
Depending on regulatory and other approvals from the Ugandan government, two of those vaccines “could be put in a clinical trial in Uganda in the coming weeks,” he said.
Our top priority right now is to swiftly contain and control this outbreak in order to safeguard nearby communities and nations.
The WHO has previously stated that the Sudan strain is less contagious and has demonstrated a lower fatality rate in previous outbreaks than Ebola Zaire, despite the lack of a vaccine.
