Ebola deaths top 2,000 as scientists race to develop vaccine

Local officials in the DR Congo (DRC) reported on Tuesday that deaths from the Ebola virus disease have surpassed 2,000, with half of that number in the last 20 days.The current Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo species, was declared by DRC health officials on 15 May and declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) two days later.With more than 4,000 confirmed cases, it is both the second-largest and the fastest-growing on record. Only West Africa’s 2014 to 2016 outbreak, which saw more than 11,000 deaths, was larger.Just three months into this Ebola emergency, the death toll is already close to the total number of people killed in the 2018 to 2020 epidemic, which saw fewer overall cases.Mutation fears ariseAlarmed by the virus’s rapid spread, local health officials have recently raised concerns that the virus could be mutating.In response, the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention met WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently to investigate the threat of the virus mutating.There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo strain.Vaccine trials have been authorised i...