The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday that a clinical trial of two potential Ebola treatments will begin next week in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, marking the first such study for the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus. The outbreak, declared on 15 May but believed to have circulated for months earlier, has confirmed 1,094 cases and 277 deaths in Congo, with a further 20 cases and two fatalities in neighbouring Uganda. A single case—a medical worker who returned from the outbreak zone—was also confirmed in France on the same day, though the WHO assesses the global risk as low.

The trial will evaluate the monoclonal antibody MBP134 and the antiviral remdesivir, both alone and in combination, to determine whether they can lower mortality in patients infected with Bundibugyo virus, for which no approved vaccine or specific therapy exists. Doses have been donated by the United States government and Gilead Sciences. The study, coordinated by a consortium that includes Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, the medical NGO ALIMA, Oxford University and the WHO, will take place in Ituri province, the epicentre of the epidemic. Between 500 and 1,000 participants are expected, with the final number dependent on the efficacy signals the treatments generate during the adaptive trial.

The outbreak continues to outpace containment efforts, WHO officials in Geneva cautioned. Although testing capacity in Congo has risen from 30 to over 3,000 samples per day and treatment beds have expanded from 10 to more than 500, contact tracing remains at roughly 70 percent—well short of the 95 percent target. The absence of a vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain removes a key incentive for contacts to come forward, health responders note, as individuals face quarantine without the protection a shot would offer. Deep community mistrust, armed-group violence, and attacks on health workers in the remote mining region further complicate the response. Seven incidents targeting medical staff have been recorded, and some treatment centres have been forced to suspend operations.

The trial’s launch next week is the next operational milestone. Meanwhile, the WHO and the African Union’s health agency are seeking $518 million for a joint continental preparedness and response plan. The case in France, involving an ALIMA doctor who travelled on a commercial flight from Kinshasa and is now under care with a very low viral load, has underscored the occupational hazards facing frontline workers. Results from the treatment trial will be closely watched for any signal that the therapeutics can safely reduce the 25 percent case fatality rate currently observed.