As the Congo’s worst-ever Ebola outbreak overtakes the 9 000-case mark, with deaths exceeding 4 000, the WHO said the first full-scale human vaccine trial will begin in the region within two weeks, in the hopes that it might offer cross-protection against the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, reports JacarandaFM.
This as neighbouring Kenya confirms its second death from the virus.
The jab Ervebo is already approved for use against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, but the agency said insights that it might also protect against Bundibugyo were no match for evidence from standardised vaccine trials.
“We have got strong reassurances that… the trial should be starting before the end of this month,” said Anthony Scott, chair of the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE).
The so-called Tumaini trial in the DRC – a single trial framework that can test the efficiency of multiple vaccines – should also eventually incorporate two Bundibugyo-specific candidate vaccines, which are moving through earlier-stage, smaller-scale clinical trials.
One is a ChAdOx1 adenoviral vector jab being developed by the University of Oxford; the other, by the US-based Moderna group, uses mRNA technology.
Need for data
“The Tumaini trial will generate urgently-needed data on the efficacy of Ervebo against Bundibugyo, and will help formulate the policy decisions we need,” Scott added.
“In addition, we welcome the accelerated development of vaccines that are specifically targeting Bundibugyo.
“They’re both progressing rapidly through early clinical development.”
Kate O’Brien, director of the WHO’s immunisation department, said a WHO technical advisory group would be meeting to review evidence from the small-scale trials of the Oxford and Moderna candidate vaccines.
She suggested the Oxford jab could drop into the broader Tumaini trial fairly swiftly – as doses are ready to roll – if the safety and the immunogenicity data from the first trial were “positive and reassuring”.
“Everything is lined up for at least two products to be moving quickly,” she said.
Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders is conducting a data-gathering study – not a full clinical trial – of Ervebo’s effectiveness in frontline health workers in DRC provinces hard-hit by the Bundibugyo outbreak, with the jab being offered to volunteers as an interim measure.
Kenya confirms second case
Kenya has confirmed a second case of Ebola, 10 days after a businessman died of the virus after travelling to the country from the DRC
The new patient is a close relative of the first case and was already in quarantine when he fell ill last week, Kenya’s Health Ministry told the BBC.
The incubation period for Ebola ranges from two to 21 days, meaning those exposed to the virus may not become ill for several weeks.
Detecting his illness early had improved his chances of recovery and limited the chance of him passing the virus on to others, with the Ministry saying the cases were clearly linked, and there was no evidence of spread in the wider community
The 40-year-old Kenyan man who died on 5 October was diagnosed with Ebola shortly after being admitted to hospital in the capital, Nairobi. A relative had taken him there after picking him up at the airport. He had travelled from the Congo, through Uganda to Kenya, without his illness being detected.
Since his death, officials had determined that he had been in contact with 128 people:113 of them had since been found. Of these, 108 were in quarantine in Kenya and tracing of the remaining 15 continued, authorities said.
JacarandaFM article – DR Congo Ebola vaccine trial to begin within weeks: WHO (Open access)
BBC article – Kenya confirms second Ebola case – a relative of the first victim (Open access)
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