The World Health Organization has warned that it could take between six and nine months before a vaccine targeting the current Bundibugyo strain of Ebola becomes ready for use, as fears continue growing over the rapidly spreading outbreak in Central Africa.
WHO adviser Vasee Moorthy said two experimental vaccine candidates are currently under development, but neither has completed clinical trials.
Speaking in Geneva on Wednesday, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed that around 600 suspected Ebola cases and 139 suspected deaths have already been recorded.
However, officials warned the numbers are expected to rise significantly due to delays in identifying the virus during the early stages of the outbreak.
According to WHO data, 51 confirmed cases have been detected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the outbreak first emerged, while neighbouring Uganda has confirmed two additional cases linked to travellers arriving from Congo.
One of the infected individuals in Uganda has already died.
Although WHO declared the situation a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on Sunday, Tedros stressed that the outbreak has not yet reached pandemic level.
“WHO assesses the risk as high at the national and regional levels, but low globally,” he explained.
The outbreak is centred mainly in Congo’s eastern Ituri province, with additional confirmed cases also reported in North Kivu.
Health officials admitted the actual scale of infections in Congo is likely much higher, especially as healthcare workers are among those who have died — a development WHO described as deeply worrying.
Aid groups on the ground say hospitals and treatment centres are struggling to cope with the surge in suspected cases.
Médecins Sans Frontières emergency programme manager Trish Newport said some medical facilities are already overwhelmed.
“We are full of suspect cases. We don’t have any space,” she said, describing the situation as chaotic.
The United Kingdom has since pledged up to £20 million to help contain the outbreak, including funding for frontline healthcare workers, infection control measures and disease surveillance systems.
Investigators are still trying to determine how long the virus had been circulating before it was officially detected.
The first known victim was reportedly a nurse who developed symptoms and died on April 24 in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.
Her body was later transported to Mongwalu, one of two major gold-mining towns now heavily linked to the outbreak.
Residents in affected areas say fear is rapidly spreading among communities, with daily habits changing drastically.
Local lecturer Araali Bagamba said people have stopped shaking hands due to fears of infection.
“It’s part of our culture to shake hands all the time, but now the habit has changed,” she said.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids and damaged skin, often causing severe bleeding, organ failure and death.
The Bundibugyo strain, first discovered in Uganda in 2007, is considered less deadly than the more common Zaire strain but remains highly dangerous.
It has only caused two previous outbreaks — in Uganda in 2007 and Congo in 2012 — killing roughly one-third of infected patients.
Unlike the Zaire strain, there is currently no approved vaccine or targeted treatment specifically for Bundibugyo Ebola.
Moorthy said one vaccine candidate being developed could potentially work similarly to the existing Ebola vaccine used against the Zaire strain, though researchers still require months of testing.
A second vaccine based on technology similar to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine platform may be ready for clinical trials within two to three months, although scientists say significant uncertainty remains.
WHO also defended its handling of the outbreak after criticism from the United States claimed the organisation reacted too slowly.
Tedros insisted the response had been swift despite the extremely difficult conditions in eastern Congo, where years of armed conflict and instability continue complicating containment efforts.
With no approved vaccine, overwhelmed hospitals and cases continuing to rise, global health officials now fear the outbreak could worsen dramatically before effective tools become available.
