EBOV

Contact of contacts, of course, FK workers, frontline workers, rather than actually treating HIV has a contraindication.

It's also maybe it makes sense to mention that for the current outbreak, WHO reports that the outbreak is caused by the Budimbujo virus, not the Ebola Zaire.

So who states... that there is insufficient evidence that actually this vaccine would protect against the Bujumbunya virus disease in humans.

And they recommend use in that context only in a research protocol, while the vaccination of health care and frontline workers is underway under, of course, this framework.

Vaccination of third-level contacts of EVD cases should be implemented only when vaccination of contacts and contact of contact is completed, and if vaccine doses and human resources allow.

SAGE reconfirmed the use of a single dose of the VSV Ebola Zaire vaccine in these situations, in which high efficacy has been demonstrated from the 10 post-vaccination onwards.

All appropriate individuals 12 months and older who are contacts or contacts of contacts identified in a ring should be targeted for vaccination.

For affected areas with incident-confirmed cases of EVD, Although outside the immediate rings, SAGE recommended immunizing healthcare and frontline workers with a single dose of the VSV Ebola Zaire vaccine.

In areas where the outbreak is considered likely to spread, Healthcare and frontline workers are at very low risk of Ebola virus disease.

SAGE recommended that, in these low-risk areas, healthcare and frontline workers should be offered the vaccine and that either of the WHO pre-qualified Ebola vaccines may be used, depending on availability.

However, Sage noted that the VSV Ebola Zaire vaccine should be used only if there is sufficient supply to vaccinate higher-risk populations inside the rings and is available for the duration of the outbreak.

Thank you.

with nearly 4,000 deaths recorded, almost half of them outside health facilities.

The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugio strain of the virus, which is rarer than the Zaire strain, responsible for most previous outbreaks in the country and for which no approved vaccine exists.

From Kinshasa, Chris Ochamringa reports.

This is the 17th Ebola outbreak in the DRC.

And most of the outbreaks have been caused by a different strain known as Zaire.

And that strain has already had a vaccine that was developed about in 2018.

The government used it and successfully managed to contain the outbreak.

So then what options do health authorities have at this point in time?

Well, this outbreak is caused by the Bondi-Bugio virus rather than the Zaire Ebola virus, which was responsible for major outbreaks in the past.

And there is currently no licensed vaccine specifically for this strain.

Now, two vaccine candidates are currently in early stages.

human trials.

In the meantime, Congolese authorities are using an existing Zaire Ebola vaccine in affected areas because animal studies suggest it may offer some protection against the Bundibugyo virus.

But the immediate challenge remains getting infections identified and patients into care quickly in a timely manner.

But the WHO says delays in detecting cases and starting appropriate treatment are contributing to the outbreak's high death rates.

The aim of the trial is to improve understanding of how effective the vaccine is against Ebola Bundibugyo virus and to protect individuals most exposed to it.

The Avibo vaccine has been highly effective against Ebola Zaire virus in the past, but it is not yet known whether it can provide meaningful protection against Ebola Bundibugyo, which is still spreading in DR Congo.

A total of 70,000 cases of Avibo vaccine have been made available to the Congolese authorities to support the outbreak response and related research.

The epicenter of the outbreak remains in a Churi province in eastern DR Congo, although the virus has spread to seven provinces.