Ebola vaccine could take nine months as death toll continues to rise, WHO warns

The World Health Organization (WHO) warns it could take up to nine months before a vaccine against this particular species of Ebola is ready. WHO advisor Dr Vasee Moorthy said on Wednesday that two possible "candidate vaccines" against the Bundibugyo species are being developed, but neither had gone through clinical trials yet. WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there have been 600 suspected cases of Ebola and 139 suspected deaths but numbers are expected to rise given the time taken to detect the virus.

Tedros said 51 cases have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo - where the first case was reported - and two in neighbouring Uganda. On Sunday, the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern, but said it was not at pandemic level. After meeting on Tuesday, the health organisation's emergency committee agreed the situation was "not a pandemic emergency". The WHO assesses the risk of the epidemic as high at the national and regional levels and low at the global level. The 51 cases confirmed in DR Congo are in its eastern Ituri province - the epicentre of the outbreak - as well as North Kivu province. Of the two confirmed in Uganda's capital, Kampala, both had travelled from DR Congo, one of whom has died.

The first known case was a nurse who developed symptoms and died on April 24, in Ituri's provincial capital Bunia. The body was repatriated to Mongwalu, one of two gold-mining towns where the majority of cases have been reported. The country is facing its 17th outbreak of Ebola, but the Bundibugyo species - which has not been seen for more than a decade - brings its own difficulties. Bundibugyo has only caused two previous