WHO and partners immediately strengthened their support for the Ugandan government’s response to an epidemic of Sudan virus epidemic (SVD, part of the Ebola family), including by facilitating access to a candidate candidates and candidate treatments. The first 2160 doses of the vaccination candidate and the treatments are already found in Kampala, Uganda, because they were attended as part of the preparation for the epidemic.
The current vaccine trial processes include the orientation of research teams on test procedures and logistical arrangements. Research teams were deployed in the field to work with the surveillance teams as the approvals are expected.
The candidate vaccine and candidate treatments (a monoclonal antibody and an antiviral) are made available through clinical trial protocols, which will further document their efficiency and safety.
As of January 30, there was a confirmed case and 45 contacts which were followed.
Uganda experienced five previous SVD epidemics. The last one was declared in September 2022 and ended in January 2023, with 164 cases and 77 deaths. During this epidemic, a committee of WHO of external experts assessed the candidate vaccines and provided recommendations on their ability to assess Uganda, as part of a clinical trial against the SVD virus.
Which works with the Ministry of Health of Uganda and its main Ugandan Investigators designated and their teams from the Pulmonary Institute of Makerere University and the Institute for Research on the Ugandan Virus, as well as global filoviruses and Experts and test regulators, to initiate the tests.
The trials were designed via a global collaboration effort coordinated by WHO, which included developers, university establishments, regulatory authorities, other experts and researchers in Uganda and other countries at risk of filovirus.
The objective of the vaccine test is to assess a potentially effective candidate vaccine, and if it is effective, to possibly contribute to the implementation of the current epidemic and to protect populations at risk to the future. Persons eligible to join the trial are those most at risk of SVD, that is to say close contacts of a person who has been confirmed as having had an SVD or who died of the disease. Study sites will therefore be the locations where contacts of the case or cases will reside. Study teams will be mobile and capable of moving quickly to these areas to do their work using the Ring vaccination approach.
Who works with the Ministry of Health and with Makerere University Lung Institute and the Ugandan virus research institute, which will direct the implementation of tests.
The development of protocols and research priorities has been carried out via the Marvac consortium and the collaborative Open Research Consortium (CORC) for the Filoviridae family, and many developers have facilitated the availability of the vaccine and candidate treatments: IAVI provided their Candidate in Sudan candidate, Gilead supplied Remdsivir, an antiviral.
Among those who support the implementation of the tests are the for Epidemic Coalition Preparation for Innovations (CEPI), Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Canada International Development Research Center, the Emergency Preparation Commission and the Emergency Response of the European Commission (HERA) and WHO. This rapid action is the result of tireless efforts to strengthen international cooperation on research, innovation and evaluation and deployment of countermeasures in the face of dangerous pathogens.
Although SVD epidemics are controlled without vaccines, control can be carried out more quickly using safe and effective vaccines. In the meantime, a complete response of epidemic is underway in Uganda to stop the transmission quickly, identify contacts and conduct epidemiological surveys, while improving awareness of the community.
Which allocated 1 million US dollars from its emergency emergency fund to help accelerate epidemics control efforts.
Sudan virus disease is a serious, who is often fatal disease affecting humans and other primates due to Sudanense orthoebolavirus (Sudan virus), a viral species belonging to the same kind of virus causing an Ebola virus disease. The mortality of cases of Sudan virus disease varied from 41% to 100% in past epidemics. There are no treatments or vaccines approved for the Sudan virus, but the early initiation of support for support considerably reduces death by Sudan virus disease.