GENEVA – The World Health Organization (WHO) says it could take up to nine months before a vaccine against this particular species of Ebola is ready.
Two possible ‘candidate vaccines’ against the Bundibugyo species are being developed, but neither had gone through clinical trials yet, WHO advisor, Dr Vasee Moorthy, said on Wednesday. WHO Chief, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said there have been 600 suspected cases of Ebola and 139 suspected deaths, but numbers are expected to rise given the time taken to detect the virus.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, he said 51 cases have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo – where the first case was reported – and two in neighbouring Uganda.
On Sunday, the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern, but said it was not at pandemic level.
Tedros said that after meeting on Tuesday, the health organisation’s emergency committee agreed the situation was ‘not a pandemic emergency’. “WHO assesses the risk of the epidemic as high at the national and regional levels and low at the global level,” he explained. A WHO official said investigations were underway to find out how long the virus had been spreading for, but that their priority was to curb transmission. The first known case was a nurse who developed symptoms and died on April 24, in Ituri’s provincial capital Bunia.
The body was repatriated to Mongwalu, one of two gold-mining towns where the majority of cases have been reported.
Araali Bagamba, a Lecturer who lives in Bunia, said people understand how dangerous the situation is.
“For the last three days, I haven’t shaken anyone’s hand and I observe that within the general population,” she told the BBC World Service Newsday programme.
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