Symbolic imageWHO urges Ervebo trial as Congo's Ebola cases pass 4,000
Congo's Ebola outbreak has reached 4,053 confirmed cases and 1,850 deaths, the country's worst on record. WHO vaccine experts on Friday recommended a full-scale human trial of the Ervebo vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain.
What happened
- Government data released on Thursday counted the cases since the outbreak was declared on 15 May.
- Infections cover 53 health zones in five provinces; 87 percent in Ituri, 11 percent in North Kivu.
- Daily Sabah reports about 793 recoveries and nearly 700 patients still hospitalised or in isolation.
- Only West Africa's 2014-2016 epidemic was larger, with more than 28,000 cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
- A study in Science last month traced transmission to January or earlier near Mongbwalu in Ituri.
The view from outside
Al Jazeera alone reports that the WHO's own advisory group TAG-CVP prefers a Bundibugyo-specific vaccine and warns Ervebo's effect on symptomatic disease and transmission may be limited. Daily Sabah notes health authorities intercepted a river boat near Kinshasa and tested passengers after one died of suspected Ebola.
What could happen next
- Ervebo has never been tested against Bundibugyo in humans; WHO wants it in a randomised trial during the outbreak.
- Gavi's 500,000-dose Ervebo stockpile is to supply the trials, with some doses already in Congo.
- Two Bundibugyo vaccines are in early human trials, a third is not yet at that stage.
- Experts believe the true case count is higher; armed conflict in eastern Congo keeps hampering the response.