WHO "cautiously optimistic" about Ebola outbreak after vaccinations

Reuters
Peter Salama, Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Programme at the World Health Organization (WHO) attends a news conference on the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, May 18, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization is cautiously optimistic about the progress of the Ebola response in Democratic Republic of Congo after 90 percent of people at risk in the city of Mbandaka were vaccinated, a senior WHO official said on Tuesday. Peter Salama, WHO Deputy Director-General for Emergency Preparedness and Response, said more than 400 potential Ebola contacts had been vaccinated. Although he could not say for certain the city had been safeguarded, he was cautiously optimistic, and there had been no explosive increase in cases. He also said he hoped to get government approval within days to use five experimental drugs to treat Ebola patients, in a clinical trial which could lay the groundwork for more rapid treatments in future outbreaks. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Richard Balmforth)