Clinical trials that aim to establish a standard treatment for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is driving the current outbreak, began on July 2.The trials are being conducted in Evangelical Medical Center in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak.Dr. Placide Mbala of the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB), is in charge of clinical trials, said the trials could take between three and six months, depending on how the disease evolves on the ground.
Clinical trials for treatments targeting the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus disease began on July 2 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The goal is to develop a standard treatment for the strain, whose current outbreak has already resulted in nearly 1,500 confirmed cases and more than 450 deaths.
According to DRC health authorities, clinical trials targeting this rare strain of Ebola, which is affecting the eastern part of the DRC, were officially launched on July 2 at the Evangelical Medical Center in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.
“During this epidemic, we also needed to conduct research to find specific drugs to treat this Ebola virus disease and to identify an effective molecule we can use to treat patients suffering from Ebola,” Dieudonné Mwamba Kazadi, director of the National Institute of Public Health and coordinator of the response to what is now the DRC’s 17th Ebola epidemic, told Mongabay.
