World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday a clinical trial of vaccines to combat the Sudan strain of Ebola could start within weeks as an outbreak of the disease in Uganda reached the capital.
On September 20th, Uganda declared that they had an outbreak of Ebola. They said that the Sudan strain was causing the infections.
As of October 12, a total of 54 Ebola cases and 19 deaths had been confirmed by Uganda’s health ministry.
The current lack of a vaccine for the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus has caused worries that the infection could spread easily and be difficult to control in Uganda.
In a virtual address to a meeting of Africa regional health officials in Kampala, Tedros said several vaccines were currently being developed that could deal with the Sudan strain.
Two of those vaccines “could be put in a clinical trial in Uganda in the coming weeks pending regulatory and other approvals from the Ugandan government,” he said.
“Our primary focus now is to rapidly control and contain this outbreak to protect neighbouring districts as well as neighbouring countries.”
Although it has no vaccine, WHO has previously said the Sudan strain is less transmissible and has shown a lower fatality rate in previous outbreaks than Ebola Zaire.
