Congo: Confirmed Ebola cases rise to 3,075, including 1,354 deaths

Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Toloka said on Friday that researchers are working on developing a treatment and vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, the viral strain responsible for the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

She expressed hope that the vaccine and treatment would become available “within two to four months,” noting that the government had funded the research, but provided no further details regarding the expected development stage or approval process.

Currently, there is no approved vaccine or licensed treatment specifically for the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus. Several experimental vaccines and treatments are undergoing clinical evaluation.

On Friday, the University of Oxford announced that the first volunteer had received a dose of the “ChAdOx1 BDBV” vaccine in the world’s first human trial for this vaccine, which was designed to protect against the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus.