WHO launches first Ebola vaccine trial in Uganda

The World Health Organization (WHO) has started vaccination trials against the Ebola virus in Uganda. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreisus said on February 3.

"WHO has today launched a trial of the Sudan Ebolavirus vaccine. The study will involve people who have been in contact with the disease and people who have been in contact with infected people," he wrote on social network X.

It is noted that the vaccine trial began with record speed - just three days after the fever broke out. Gebreisus also specified that this is the first activity aimed at assessing the clinical effectiveness of the vaccine against the disease.

The WHO director general added that the organization will continue to support the government to bring the Ebola outbreak in the country under control.

Vaccine information: Ginzburg named the conditions for creating a vaccine against metapneumovirus

How dangerous is the pathogen and what are the chances of its super strain emerging

Earlier, on January 30, it became known that an outbreak of disease caused by the Ebola virus was confirmed in Uganda. One of the first patients was a nurse at a hospital in the capital who sought medical attention after experiencing fever-like symptoms. On Thursday, January 30, she passed away. An autopsy confirmed the presence of Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV).

Uganda last experienced an outbreak in late 2022. According to the latest figures, the 2022 outbreak has killed 55 of the 143 infected people, among them six health workers.

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is transmitted through contact with infected body fluids and tissues. Symptoms include headache, vomiting blood, muscle aches and bleeding.