Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has launched a study in the Democratic Republic of Congo to determine whether an existing Ebola vaccine could provide protection against the Bundibugyo virus, as the country battles what has been described as its largest Ebola outbreak.
The study will follow 20,000 frontline workers in Ituri and North Kivu provinces, including people considered particularly vulnerable to infection because of their role in responding to the epidemic.
Congo began an Ebola vaccination campaign targeting health and frontline workers last month. The government has been allocated 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine from the global Ebola vaccine stockpile for a Phase 3 clinical trial.
MSF said the new study was launched at a World Health Organization-run training centre for health workers in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.
The project is expected to last between nine and 12 months, with three months devoted to vaccinations followed by at least six months of monitoring participants.
“The study will generate real-world data on the use of the ERVEBO vaccine and its potential effectiveness in the current outbreak context,” MSF said.
No vaccine or specific treatment is currently approved against the Bundibugyo virus. Ervebo is licensed and recommended for outbreaks caused by Ebola virus, previously known as Zaire ebolavirus.
“Although ERVEBO was not originally developed to protect against Bundibugyo, preliminary data suggest that it may offer some degree of protection against the virus,” said Guyguy Manangama, an epidemiologist and MSF deputy director of operations.
“In a race against time such as the one the DRC is currently facing, we must use every tool available to us.”
According to the latest Health Ministry figures cited in the report, the outbreak has reached 7,541 confirmed infections and 3,639 related deaths.
Cases have been recorded across 62 health zones in seven provinces: Haut-Uele, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Bas-Uele, Tshopo and South-Ubangi.
MSF cautioned that the fight to contain the epidemic remains far from over. Although declining hospital admissions and slower transmission in some areas could indicate improvement, its teams have observed infections appearing in new areas that are less prepared to respond.
The organisation also warned that some basic outbreak-control measures remain inadequate in the original hotspots, complicating efforts to bring the epidemic under control.