An Ebola vaccine based on the same technology that delivered the AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab is being urgently developed by British scientists to help contain the deadly sub-strain enveloping the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its neighbors.
The Daily Telegraph reports the new vaccine is being developed by the Oxford Vaccine Group (OVG) using the platform deployed in 2020 as a baseline start.
The vax could be ready for clinical trials within two to three months, its makers say, then rushed into action once approved against the outbreak which has resulted in more than 204 suspected deaths and 870 suspected cases.
The manifestation in the DRC involves a rare species of Ebola called Bundibugyo, for which there is no vaccine. It is already one of the biggest outbreaks on record, with 750 suspected cases and 177 deaths.
Professor Teresa Lambe, Calleva head of vaccine immunology at the OVG, outlined the work now underway:
My hope is that this outbreak can be brought under control quickly and that vaccines are ultimately not needed.
Nevertheless, our team and partners will continue working to ensure that potential vaccine options are available.
The ability to move rapidly in situations like this has been built on many years of vaccine research and close collaboration with our global partners.
The new vax has been designed using the same technology that underpinned the Covid-19 vaccine made by AstraZeneca.
The vaccine technology, called ChAdOx1, uses a harmless genetically engineered version of the common cold virus which normally infects chimpanzees.
The World Health Organisation (W.H.O.) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern over the past week, as Breitbart News reported.
On Friday W.H.O. raised the public health risk from the virus in DR Congo from “high” to “very high”.
Meanwhile, DR Congo suspended all commercial and private flights to and from Bunia – the provincial capital of Ituri, where most cases and deaths have been reported – to curb “cross-border spread”.
“Humanitarian, medical or emergency flights will only be authorised after special approval from the aviation and health authorities,” the country’s transport ministry said in a statement.
Ebola was first discovered in 1976 in what is now DR Congo, and is thought to have spread from bats.
It is a rare, highly contagious and often fatal disease generally transmitted via bodily fluids.
Symptoms include a high temperature, extreme tiredness, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain and bleeding.