WHO evaluates vaccines, treatments for Ebola outbreak

The World Health Organization said Tuesday it was examining whether any candidate vaccines or treatments could be used to rein in the deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"At the international level, (we are) looking at what candidate vaccines or treatment are available and if any could be of use in this outbreak," Anne Ancia, WHO's DRC representative, told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Bunia in DRC's Ituri region.

The WHO has declared the surge of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever, suspected to have killed 131 people and infected more than 500, an international health emergency and will hold an emergency meeting on the crisis on Tuesday.

No vaccine or therapeutic treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola responsible for the latest outbreak of the disease, which has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa in the past half century.

Vaccines are only available for the Zaire strain, which was identified in 1976.

Ancia said that for the time being, international experts say prequalified vaccines for the Zaire strain "cannot be used in the current response".

"Of course, a lot more studies need to be done on this," she said.

She added that WHO's technical advisory group would meet Tuesday "to provide further recommendations... on which potential vaccines should be prioritised".