University of Alberta antiviral expert Matthias Götte warns more needs to be done to prepare for global outbreaks of deadly viruses like Ebola, hantavirus and others.
This week, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern as more than 600 cases and 139 deaths from Ebola were reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Meanwhile, passengers from a Dutch cruise ship, including four Canadians, continue to be isolated and monitored following an outbreak of a rare human-to-human transmitted strain of hantavirus first identified in early May and leading to three deaths.
Götte stresses that while the threat to Canadians from both outbreaks is minimal, they serve as a reminder that not all of the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic have been learned.
“It is basically not acceptable that, in 2026, after all we went through with COVID and really starting in 2014 with the West African Ebola outbreak, we are still faced with situations like this,” says Götte, a professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology.
Vaccines and antibodies that were developed to fight the last major Ebola outbreak, in West Africa in 2014, were for the Zaire strain and will likely not work against the new Bundibugyo strain, he explains.
Viruses on the move
Ebola virus disease can lead to systemic organ failure, killing approximately 50 per cent of those infected. It spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids, so family members and health-care workers are most vulnerable.
The current outbreak is happening in an area affected by conflict and famine, which can increase people’s susceptibility to disease, including viral infection, Götte says.
Götte, who is an expert in RNA viruses with high epidemic potential, explains that it’s hard to keep up because they are diverse and constantly changing.
“This is quite typical for RNA viruses like Ebola, hantavirus, SARS CoV-2 and influenza. They are very sloppy in the way they replicate, and that means they create mutations. And some of them adapt very quickly,” he says.
This is why the flu vaccine is evaluated anew each year to be sure it will combat the dominant strains in circulation, for example.
Best hope to fight back
Götte says it can take months to develop new vaccines and years for new drugs, so the best hope for containing the current outbreak of Ebola should come from clinical trials set to begin for two drugs that already exist.
One, called MBP134, is a combination of two existing antibody treatments known to target several Ebola strains. The second is an antiviral drug called remdesivir, originally developed to fight the Zaire Ebola strain. The two drugs may also be tested in combination, as they target the virus in different ways.
Götte and his laboratory team discovered the mechanism behind remdesivir and its antiviral activity against Ebola and SARS-CoV-2.
Remdesivir inhibits the viral polymerase, which Götte refers to as the “replication engine” of the virus. Essentially, the drug tricks the virus into incorporating faulty copies of its building blocks into the RNA chains, which stops it from replicating.
Götte notes that remdesivir was not as effective as the antibodies against Ebola Zaire. Also, at that time, remdesivir could only be delivered by intravenous injection, limiting its widespread use. The drug is now available as a pill (obeldesivir), which should make it much easier to administer, he says.
“Remdesivir is a so-called broad-spectrum antiviral that attacks the polymerase, and that’s quite conserved across those different strains, so that’s why there’s a chance it will have an effect with Bundibugyo,” he says.
He points out the key with any treatment against Ebola is to get it to patients early, before the virus has had a chance to cause major damage.
“The earlier you give the antivirals, the better it is,” he says.
Preparing for the future
Götte applauds the WHO for taking the current Ebola outbreak so seriously. For one thing, there are likely already many more cases than have been reported. “Once we see these high numbers of cases, it tells us there’s likely a lot of cases that have not yet been diagnosed under the iceberg, so to speak,” he says.
For another, the virus is already on the move. Although most cases so far have been in only one region, two have been confirmed in Uganda in people who travelled there from Congo.
Götte notes Ebola is nowhere near as contagious as COVID-19 because it requires much closer contact. “It’s not transmitted through the air like influenza and coronaviruses,” he says. “That means the overall risk to Canadians is very low.”
Götte believes the world is better prepared for coronaviruses thanks to all the work that was done during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For example, at the University of Alberta, Götte is director of Striving for Pandemic Preparedness - The Alberta Research Consortium, which was launched with a $55-million investment by the Government of Alberta. The U of A’s new Cryo-EM facility allows for highly detailed imaging of viral structures, aiding scientists with their drug and vaccine development efforts. The PRAIRIE Hub for Pandemic Preparedness was also created in 2023 by the Government of Canada as one of five national pandemic preparedness hubs.
But the threat remains from relatively rare viruses like Ebola and hantavirus, he says, as well as much more common threats like influenza, which he puts at the top of the list for Canada.
“It’s simply because of the nature of viruses. They are able to adapt quickly, and we are always trying to catch up,” Götte says. “So it’s important to optimize all of our workflows and continue developing broader-spectrum antivirals, antibodies and vaccines so we are able to respond as rapidly as possible.”
