Researchers responded too slowly and in a poorly coordinated way to the 2013 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, a report by MPs has concluded.

The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee warned that ¡°the UK and other countries were not ¡®research ready¡¯ when the outbreak began, prompting a less than optimal and uncoordinated research response¡±, even though universities and other bodies had responded in ¡°record time¡± to the epidemic.

The Ebola outbreak, which killed more than 11,000 people, was the first time that trials for vaccines and treatments had actually taken place on patients during a disease epidemic. ?

Trudie Lang, a professor at the University of Oxford and head of the Global Health Network, told the committee that during the outbreak there were ¡°five different groups testing five different things¡±, which was ¡°not an overly sensible approach¡±.

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This resulted in an ¡°absurd situation¡± in which an ¡°unorchestrated throng of researchers¡± were each ¡°negotiating for access to patients¡± on the ground, she said.

Basic questions, such as whether to give patients fluids orally or intravenously, were not prioritised during the research effort, the committee found.

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¡°The failure to conduct therapeutic trials earlier in the outbreak was a serious missed opportunity that will not only have cost lives in this epidemic but will impact our ability to respond to similar events in the future,¡± , released today, concluded.

The report also found that a Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, designed to assist the UK government during periods of crisis, was convened a full three months after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa had got out of control.?

david.matthews@tesglobal.com