BUNIA, Congo — People living at the heart of Congo’s deadly Ebola outbreak are holding onto hope as scientists launched a long-awaited clinical trial in early July to test two potential treatments against the still-spreading disease.
At an Ebola treatment center inside Bunia’s Evangelical Medical Center, located in eastern Congo’s Ituri province, the start of the research carried a sense of urgency rather than fanfare last Thursday. While ambulances pulled up with new patients and healthcare workers suited up in layers of protective gear before entering isolation wards, the trial quietly got underway alongside the ongoing fight to keep patients alive.
The strain behind this outbreak — known as Bundibugyo — is rarer than other forms of Ebola, and currently no approved treatments or vaccines exist to combat it. The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, confirmed Thursday that more than 1,400 people have been diagnosed and 438 have lost their lives.
The WHO announced that same day that the first patient had been enrolled in the study. Researchers are evaluating whether the antiviral drug remdesivir, an experimental antibody treatment called MBP134, or a combination of the two can help infected patients survive. According to WHO research adviser Dr. Vasee Moorthy, patient survival will be monitored for 28 days following the start of treatment.
The trial is supported by the WHO and is a joint effort involving Congo’s national biomedical research institute INRB, Britain’s Oxford University, Antwerp’s Institute of Tropical Medicine, and several other international health organizations.
Professor Yap Boum, head of emergency response at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, explained that the current phase of the trial is focused on confirmed Ebola patients being treated inside specialized facilities. A second phase, he noted, will extend to healthcare workers, close contacts, and others considered at high risk of infection.
Professor Placide Mbala, who is coordinating laboratory work during the outbreak, said the research effort could last anywhere from three to six months, depending on how the outbreak develops.
For many people in Bunia, the launch of the trial brings a rare glimmer of encouragement after weeks of growing fear and loss.
Bunia resident Audrey Tengetenge described the trials as a “light at the end of the tunnel.” She added, “I hope everything moves very quickly so that we can find relief. We want nothing more than an end to this very dangerous disease, which continues to bring us grief.”
Gladys Munguro, who survived Ebola and was released from a treatment center two weeks ago, recalled watching fellow patients die while she was receiving care. Now recovered, she said she hopes the experimental treatments will give future patients a better chance at survival and help bring the outbreak to an end.
“This experimental phase is necessary for us,” Munguro told the Associated Press. “I will volunteer as soon as the next phase of the trials begins for high-risk individuals.”
However, researchers face significant challenges rooted in community skepticism. Nelson Dhebi, a shopkeeper in Bunia, said he supports scientific progress and hopes for good results, but worries the treatments could cause harm. He believes others should go first. “Research should be carried out first and foremost on our elected representatives, as they are the ones who represent us,” he said.
Community mistrust is just one of many obstacles complicating the response to the outbreak. Overcrowded treatment facilities, delays in patients seeking medical attention, and violence that restricts access to conflict zones are all major barriers to containing the disease.
Pierre Akilimali, incident manager at Congo’s National Institute of Public Health, said Friday that nearly three out of every four Ebola deaths during this outbreak are happening outside of health facilities.
For now, the trial is being conducted exclusively at Bunia’s Evangelical Medical Centre in Ituri — a region that has also seen violence directed at healthcare workers battling the virus, which spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals. Officials say they plan to expand the trials to additional locations once conditions are safe enough to do so.
