An international disease response group hopes a vaccine for the Ebola virus ravaging central Africa can be developed within 100 days.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) funds the development of new vaccines and is looking at potential candidates for the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no vaccine.

Jane Halton, CEPI's board chair, highlighted an urgent need for a vaccine, saying the number of cases recorded so far may be only the tip of the iceberg.

"I can guarantee you that we will be in a position to respond faster than we would have been five years ago," said Hatton.

"Will we achieve it in 100 days? Possibly, it's a big lift. We are now into the many hundreds of cases and hundreds of deaths, but the truth of the matter is that real numbers are much bigger than that."

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern over the weekend.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the virus first emerged, says the disease has caused 160 suspected deaths so far, while the WHO has identified 671 suspected cases across DRC and Uganda.

Two cases have also been confirmed in Uganda.

Another Ebola case has been detected in eastern DRC's South Kivu province, hundreds of kilometres from the outbreak’s epicentre.

The area is under the control of a rebel alliance and efforts to contain the spread is hampered by the DRC’s long-running conflicts, including between the Congolese army and the M23 group.

At a meeting of the South Kivu multi-sector task force for Ebola response in Bukavu, officials under the AFC/M23 militia alliance said one confirmed case and one death had been recorded near the provincial capital.

Health authorities said a second suspected case had also been detected and placed in isolation awaiting test results.

The development adds to concerns that the virus had circulated undetected for nearly two months before being identified last week in Ituri province.


Edited by Tony Sabine