Uganda has announced plans to launch an Ebola vaccine trial as efforts to contain the ongoing outbreak in Kampala intensify. The decision comes after a nurse employed at Kampala’s main referral hospital died from the disease, prompting authorities to declare an outbreak.
According to Pontiano Kaleebu, executive director of Uganda Virus Research Institute, scientists are developing research protocols for the deployment of over 2,000 doses of a candidate vaccine against the Sudan strain of Ebola. The trial is expected to accelerate the process of obtaining necessary regulatory approvals.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has pledged its support to Uganda’s response efforts, providing access to 2,160 doses of trial vaccine. Researchers are currently conducting fieldwork alongside surveillance teams as they await approval.
Uganda has previously had access to candidate vaccine doses since an Ebola outbreak in September 2022 that claimed at least 55 lives. However, the government was unable to begin a vaccine study due to time constraints.
A successful trial of the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine, used in a previous outbreak in eastern Congo, proved effective in containing the spread of the disease. Uganda has experienced multiple Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2000 that claimed hundreds of lives and another in 2014-16 that resulted in over 11,000 deaths.
Contact tracing is also crucial to stemming the spread of Ebola, a viral hemorrhagic fever that can manifest as high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, and internal bleeding. At least 44 contacts have been identified, including 30 health workers and patients.
The Kampala outbreak may prove challenging due to the city’s highly mobile population of approximately 4 million. The nurse who died traveled extensively before seeking treatment, highlighting the need for effective contact tracing measures. Ebola is spread through contact with bodily fluids or contaminated materials, and scientists suspect that humans initially acquired the virus through contact with infected animals or raw meat.
The ongoing Marburg outbreak in northern Tanzania’s Kagera region has killed at least two people, while a recent Ebola-like Marburg disease outbreak in Tanzania was declared over. Kampala’s Ebola outbreak is the latest in a series of viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks in the east African region.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/uganda-ebola-vaccine-trials-fc33af48307c911c7771db825c159333