Belgium will send a mobile laboratory to Bunia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help researchers analyze samples for a vaccine trial targeting the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, Belgium’s Foreign Ministry said Oct. 29.
The DRC Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Welfare counted 10,193 confirmed cases and 4,960 deaths in a situation report dated Oct. 27.
Belgium’s Ministry of Defence will organize the airlift through the Belgian First Aid & Support Team (B-FAST), providing an A400M aircraft and logistical assistance. The European Union will support and coordinate the operation under its Union Civil Protection Mechanism, the Foreign Ministry said. In Bunia, researchers will use the mobile facility to examine trial samples and monitor immune responses after vaccination.
The DRC’s Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale and the Global Health Institute at the University of Antwerp coordinate the study. The Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), also based in Antwerp, directs laboratory work and analysis of immune responses. ITM said the study seeks evidence that could help protect people at risk and save lives.
Tumaini is a Phase 2/3 study testing vaccines against Bundibugyo Ebola. Its first participant was vaccinated in Bunia on Oct. 23 in the Tumaini trial against Bundibugyo Ebola, which EconoTimes previously covered.
Ervebo is among the candidates being assessed, although it is licensed for a different Ebola virus; no vaccine is approved for Bundibugyo, ITM said. Researchers are preparing to add a candidate from Moderna and another developed by the University of Oxford with the Serum Institute of India. ITM said ring vaccination has been used in earlier outbreaks to test vaccines, including one effective against Zaire ebolavirus, and the new candidates are being prepared for the trial shortly.
