Congo likely to use experimental vaccine on latest Ebola outbreak

Medical teams in the Democratic Republic of the Congo hope once again to use an experimental vaccine to prevent the latest outbreak of Ebola from becoming an epidemic.

Preliminary testing suggests that the strain of Ebola that has emerged is known as “Zaire,” the same kind swirling in recent months in another province 1,550 miles away, in which the experimental vaccine had been successfully used. The strain is the most deadly type of Ebola, carrying a mortality rate of 50 percent. Medical workers are doing additional lab testing and hope to confirm by Tuesday that this is the strain the area is facing.