Uganda is battling Ebola again – and the world doesn’t have a vaccine | Devi Sridhar

Covid has led to pandemic fatigue, but for both humanitarian and self-interested reasons, global governments must help

Ebola is one of those diseases you'd rather not know about. It has a high mortality rate, often over 50%, and while the symptoms start with a fever and headache, in the latter stages, the body internally bleeds to death. Because it's spread through body fluids, such as an infectious person's blood, vomit, urine, saliva, sweat or semen, it's not as infectious as respiratory pathogens such as Covid-19, which spread through air. Those most at risk of Ebola are healthcare workers and family members caring for their sick loved ones.

Uganda is currently battling one of its largest outbreaks of Ebola. The Ugandan outbreak is caused by the Sudan strain of the virus, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments. This is why the new outbreak is particularly concerning public health experts. As with Covid-19, the race is now on to find an effective vaccine: there are two potential candidates from GSK and Oxford, and clinical trials are being launched in the middle of this outbreak.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

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