Ebola vaccine could take nine months: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it could take up to nine months before a vaccine against this particular species of Ebola is ready.

Two possible "candidate vaccines" against the Bundibugyo species are being developed, but neither had gone through clinical trials yet, WHO advisor Dr Vasee Moorthy said on Wednesday.
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.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, he 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.
Tedros said that after meeting on Tuesday, the health organisation's emergency committee agreed the situation was "not a pandemic emergency".
"WHO assesses the risk of the epidemic as high at the national and regional levels and low at the global level," he explained.

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.
"We know the scale of the epidemic in DRC is much larger," the WHO chief said, adding that healthcare workers were among those who had died, which was a particular concern.
Local health workers say some facilities are being overwhelmed. Although personal protective equipment has started to arrive, they say they are still working without adequate protection.

A WHO official said investigations were under way to find out how long the virus had been spreading for, but that their priority was to curb transmission.
The first known case was a nurse who developed symptoms and died on 24 April, 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.

Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids and through broken skin, causing severe bleeding and organ failure.

Ebola was first discovered in 1976 in what is now DR Congo, and is thought to have spread from bats.
There are four species of Ebola known to cause disease in humans, including Zaire, which DR Congo has dealt with on numerous occasions and is most familiar with.