Ebola: Why is there still no vaccine?

Ebola has been known about for decades, but there is still no vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain of the virus causing the current outbreak. New research raises hopes of protection against the various types of Ebola. 1976: A hitherto unknown disease breaks out near the Ebola river in the country then known as Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This was the first scientifically documented Ebola epidemic.

Now, 50 years on, the DRC once again finds itself at the center of a major Ebola outbreak . This time the pathogen is the less common Bundibugyo type of the genus Orthoebolavirus. The virus was identified in 2007 during an outbreak in Bundibugyo, Uganda . Another outbreak occurred in the DRC in 2012.

How can a virus that has been known for decades continue to infect thousands of people, yet there is still no licensed vaccine or official treatment? Torsten Feldt, a doctor of tropical medicine at Düsseldorf's University Hospital, sees this as a missed opportunity. "We had come across the Bundibugyo virus in two previous outbreaks: 2007 in Uganda and 2012 in DR Congo.