The Russian Ebola vaccine has shown potential against the dangerous Bundibugyo strain. Tests at the Gamaleya Center confirmed the drug's ability to form an immune response, and further research may continue with a live pathogen if African countries are interested. Negotiations are currently underway between the Ministries of Health of Russia and the Democratic Republic of Congo on cooperation.
Tests showed an immune response against the Bundibugyo strain
The Bundibugyo strain is a rare strain of the Ebola virus that caused an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda in 2026.
Denis Logunov, Director of the N. F. Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, said that specialists have already created vaccine producers and tested their immunogenicity and protective properties in special tests on simplified virus models.
For further work, a fundamental decision must be made on the need to create the drug. In addition, the pathogen itself, which is currently spreading in Africa, will be required for final confirmation of effectiveness.
According to Logunov, if African countries are interested and can provide the strain for research, the Gamaleya Center is ready to continue working.
Why scientists use an artificial virus model
To test the effectiveness of a vaccine against an infection that is not available to developers, scientists create an artificial virus model.
As Andrey Prodeus, chief pediatric allergist-immunologist of the Moscow Region Ministry of Health, explained, such a model allows checking whether antibodies and special immune system cells are formed.
For this, a system with individual parts of the virus, to which the body should react, is created in the laboratory. If the genetic sequence of the pathogen is known, specialists can synthesize the necessary protein fragments and evaluate the future immune response.
A major Ebola outbreak continues in Africa
There is currently no specific treatment against the Bundibugyo strain. According to the latest data, 3075 people have been infected, 1354 of whom have died.
According to modeling by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an unfavorable scenario, the outbreak could significantly expand and become one of the largest in the history of Ebola spread.
Currently, the most extensive Ebola outbreak is considered to be the 2014–2016 outbreak, when the disease claimed more than 11 thousand lives.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported that the actual number of cases may be higher than official data due to the difficult situation in the regions where the infection is spreading.
Rospotrebnadzor regularly helps African countries combat the Ebola fever outbreak. The agency was one of the first in the world to develop and organize the production of tests for PCR diagnostics of this virus variant. The tests were sent to the DRC, the Republic of Congo, and Uganda.
A successful drug can strengthen Russia's position in Africa
The development of an effective Ebola vaccine can be important not only for science but also for international cooperation, experts noted. Russia needs to focus not only on the speed of drug creation but also on its effectiveness, believes Vsevolod Sviridov, an employee of the Center for African Studies at the HSE University.
Among Russia's competitors are the USA, EU countries, China, and India, which have broad opportunities for conducting research directly in the region.
On July 13, Oxford University also announced the start of clinical trials of its own drug ChAdOx1 BDBV. However, the safety and ability of the vaccine to form an immune response against the Bundibugyo strain still need to be verified.
At the same time, vaccine creation is only part of the task. No less important are drug production, supply organization, and delivery to countries where it is needed.
The WHO can participate in this process, evaluating vaccine effectiveness, forming international recommendations, and helping countries organize vaccination programs.
What other tropical disease vaccines are being developed in Russia
Ebola is not the only dangerous infection for which vaccine technologies are being created or adapted in Russia. In recent years, specialists have also been working on drugs against other diseases prevalent mainly in tropical and subtropical regions.
One of the new directions was the development of a vaccine against Dengue fever – a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes.
Russian specialists developed a recombinant gene-engineered vaccine against Dengue. This approach allows creating a drug based on individual components of the virus that can "train" the immune system to recognize the infection without using a full-fledged pathogen.