Oxford: Fight to create Ebola vaccine as cases reach 1,000

The vaccine group, at the University of Oxford, is targeting the Bundibugyo Ebolavirus, which is rapidly spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.

The rare species of Ebola that is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as Bundibugyo, has no proven vaccine and kills 30 to 50 per cent of those infected.

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A health worker gets ready to start their shift at the Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, Congo, Friday, May 29 (Image: AP)

Bundibugyo has only caused two previous outbreaks, in Uganda in 2007 and then in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2012.

The Oxford Vaccine Group (OVG) is using the same technology that underpinned the Covid jab to develop a new vaccine for the specific strain of Ebola virus in the current outbreak.

Professor Teresa Lambe OBE, Calleva head of vaccine immunology at the Oxford Vaccine Group and Pandemic Sciences Institute, said: “We are hopeful that through a coordinated global effort, we will be able to curb this outbreak and stop this virus in its tracks.”

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Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, center right, visits the Evangelical Medical Center (CEM) in Bunia, Congo, Sunday, May 31 (Image: AP)

The outbreak – declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS) by the World Health Organisation and Africa CDC, respectively – has already caused more than 900 suspected cases and more than 220 suspected deaths.

Five patients have recovered from the virus, the head of the World Health Organisation said on Sunday during a visit to a city at the heart of an outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Britain will provide up to £20 million to contain the outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.