WHO considers use of experimental vaccines as Ebola cases and deaths rise in DRC

Key points

• Global health leaders are considering whether vaccines or medicines still in development could be used to fight Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as the World Health Organization’s chief said he was deeply concerned by the outbreak’s speed and scale.
• Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there had been at least 500 suspected cases of Ebola and 130 suspected deaths in DRC since the new outbreak began – up from about 200 cases and 65 deaths when it was announced on Friday.
• Dr Mesfin Teklu Tessema, senior director of health at the International Rescue Committee, which works in the DRC’s Ituri Province, where most cases have been reported, told the Guardian he expected current known cases were “the tip of the iceberg”.
• Spread across the porous border to South Sudan, he said, was probably “a matter of when”.
• He warned that a weak public health infrastructure there meant “we...