Fight against Ebola - study gives hope for vaccine

Fight against Ebola Study in DR Congo gives hope for vaccine As of: October 30, 2026 • 2:58 p.m

A variant of the Ebola virus has been rampant in the DR Congo for months. More than 10,000 cases have been recorded so far. There is currently no vaccine against this pathogen, but a medical study gives hope.

The Bundibugyo virus was discovered back in 2007. It is a species of orthoebolavirus, commonly known as Ebola. According to the World Health Organization, it can also be extremely dangerous for humans. In the current outbreak, more than 10,000 cases of Ebola have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with one in two people dying from it.

So far, no effective antidotes have been developed - in contrast to the Zaire Ebola virus, which caused the major Ebola outbreak in West Africa from 2014 to 2016, in which more than 11,000 people died. At that time, German research teams were also involved in the development and approval of a vaccine. It is called VSV-Ebov and was able to effectively contain the outbreaks of the Zaire Ebola virus.

More than 10,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo have so far contracted the infectious disease. more

A research team from the University Hospitals in Hamburg (UKE) and the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich was recently able to show in a laboratory study that this vaccine also triggers an immune response against Bundibugyo in humans. For the study, the team examined blood samples from people who had been vaccinated with the well-known and already approved vaccine. They then tested whether the T cells, the so-called defense cells of the immune system, can also recognize the Bundibugyo viruses.

"And what we have seen is that not only the Zaire Ebola virus is recognized, but also the related Bundibugyo virus. And this has not been shown in humans before," says vaccine researcher Leonie Mayer from the UKE in Hamburg, the first author of the study.

So far there have only been animal experiments. Researchers at the University of Texas had already proven years ago that this vaccine could theoretically also be adapted to Bundibugyo.

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The different species of orthoebolaviruses, which include Bundibugyo and Zaire ebolavirus, are not very similar to each other. Christof Geldmacher explains that they have an amino acid match of 60 to 70 percent. He heads the Infection and Immunity research group at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and was involved in the laboratory study. Nevertheless, there are “still larger areas that are recognized by the T cells.” It can therefore be assumed “that this vaccine has a clinical benefit”.

The extent to which these findings from the laboratory study mean that this immune cell reaction will also lead to better clinical outcomes against Bundibugyo, i.e. could, for example, reduce the number of severe cases or reduce mortality, cannot be reliably deduced from these data. But it is known that these immune cells can significantly support virus control and the prevention of severe disease in various other viruses, because they contribute significantly to long-lasting immune memory.

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To learn more, the first pivotal Bundibugyo vaccine trial began on October 23 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “And I think we are all looking at this study with great expectations,” says vaccine researcher Mayer from the UKE in Hamburg. Because if it turns out “that there is an effective vaccine, then it could really make a significant contribution to containing this epidemic.”

First of all, in this study, VSV-Ebov, the vaccine approved against the Zaire Ebola virus, is vaccinated. The aim is to find out whether this vaccine can protect against infection, severe disease or even death. The clinical study started with several 10,000 doses of the already approved vaccine. In a so-called ring vaccination, those who have had contact with an infected person should be vaccinated. This method has proven successful in previous Ebola outbreaks.

The first clinical tests against the rare Ebola variant Bundibugyo begin in the Democratic Republic of Congo. more

The study is called "Tumaini" - which means hope in Swahili - and is an adaptive vaccine study. This means that additional vaccine candidates can be added gradually. There are two vaccines specifically developed against the Bundibugyo virus in the starting blocks. One was developed by the University of Oxford and the other by the US manufacturer Moderna.

Both are currently still in the first phase of testing on humans. Once it is clear that the vaccines are safe, they will be included in the ongoing study.

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However, the infrastructure is poorly developed in the region marked by civil war, which is why contact tracing of the sick and deceased is not always possible. Armed groups control parts of the outbreak area, and clinics and health centers are partially attacked. There is a lack of protective equipment and several million people are malnourished. All of these are difficult conditions to successfully carry out the vaccine trial and effectively contain the outbreak.

Although test kits are now available to reliably diagnose Bundibugyo, they are not available everywhere. There are also limitations in the diagnostics of the samples, says Torsten Feldt, who heads the tropical medicine department at the University Hospital Düsseldorf. In remote or conflict-affected regions, samples would sometimes have to be transported over long distances.

This topic in the program: tagesschau.de | Ebola vaccine research gives hope | Oct 30, 2026 | 12:34 p.m