Scientists are racing to launch a WHO-sponsored clinical trial of two experimental treatments for Bundibugyo virus disease as suspected cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo surpass 800 amid delayed detection and cross-border spread.
Regulatory submissions for the trial were being prepared for health authorities in Congo and Uganda, where imported cases appeared in Kampala. WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern on May 17 and convened an emergency committee May 19 to issue temporary recommendations.
Unlike Zaire ebolavirus outbreaks where ring vaccination reduced transmission, clinicians currently rely on isolation, supportive care and infection control without approved therapeutics. Deaths among health workers early in the epidemic underscored occupational exposure risks in understaffed facilities.
International partners are shipping protective equipment and deploying epidemiologists to map transmission chains that spread for weeks before laboratory confirmation. Trial designers said ethical frameworks governing research during outbreaks will govern participant enrollment and data monitoring.
WHO convened its first International Health Regulations emergency committee meeting on the epidemic May 19, issuing temporary recommendations for member states. Experimental therapeutics under trial consideration must clear Congolese and Ugandan regulatory review before patient enrollment in treatment units. Epidemiologists said weeks of undetected spread in Mongbwalu and Rwampara allowed chains of household transmission to outpace initial contact tracing capacity.
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Sources:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-race-to-develop-ebola-drugs-as-outbreak-surges/