The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that the latest outbreak of a rare strain of the Ebola virus in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda is a “public health emergency of international concern”.No vaccine or treatment exists for the new Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a disease whose strains have killed more than 15,000 people in Africa in the past half-century. The previous Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which lasted between 2013 and 2016, killed at least 11,000 people, according to the National Library of Medicine.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listSo, how quickly can a vaccine be developed to contain the latest strain?Here’s what we know:What is the situation so far?The epicentre of the latest outbreak is in DRC’s northeastern province of Ituri, close to the borders with Uganda and South Sudan, whose status as a gold-mining hub leads to people regularly crossing it.The virus has also spread into neighbouring provinces of DRC, as far as 200km (125 miles) away from what has been identified as the epidemic’s “ground zero” as well as beyond the DRC’s borders.The toll from the latest strain of the Ebola outbreak has risen to an estimated 131 deaths from 513 suspected cases, Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba told the media on Tuesday. Over the past 24 hours, 26 more cases have been suspected.In Uganda, according to the WHO, at …
