New UK emergency research call launched to tackle Ebola spread

Expert teams from around the world are being called upon to submit research proposals as part of a new UK project aimed at combating the current Ebola outbreak.

A rapid-response call for research to stop the spread of the disease in west Africa has been launched by the Wellcome Trust and the UK Department for International Development, which have allocated joint funding of 6.5 million pounds for the project.

It aims to encourage experts to devise new ways of informing the management of Ebola outbreaks, including research which could produce evidence to help tackle the current outbreak.

Proposals will be reviewed immediately, with a view to enabling research to start as soon as possible.

Dr Jeremy Farrar said: "The gravity of the Ebola epidemic in west Africa demands an urgent response, and we believe rapid research into humanitarian interventions and therapeutics can have an impact on treatment and containment during the present outbreak."

Since the disease began spreading in Guinea in February 2014, there have been more than 2,000 suspected and confirmed cases, making this one of the largest Ebola outbreaks in history.