Promising early results have been reported from trials of Ebola medicines and vaccines, spurring hope for a cure after the deadly disease recently resurfaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday that it will still take months before any are available for those affected.
Several studies are under way as part of an effort to contain the outbreak in Congo. WHO's senior advisor Vasee Moorthy said that, so far, data from preclinical studies are encouraging.
The first drug trial has already enrolled 50 patients across three treatment centres. A total of 10 centres are expected to take part.
Another 25 people have been given a possible preventive treatment, mainly relatives who had direct contact with an infected person. The aim is to stop the disease from developing in those exposed.
In the United Kingdom, the first clinical trial of a candidate vaccine has also begun. Healthy volunteers are being given the vaccine so researchers can assess the immune response it produces.
A second vaccine study is due to start this week in Canada. The first vaccine was developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India, while the second was developed by Moderna.
Although vaccines already exist for some strains of the Ebola virus, there is still none for the Bundibugyo strain, which has already killed about 1,700 people in Congo.
