The effort to contain the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo received a boost on Tuesday with news that an experimental vaccine can be used to combat the deadly virus.

Dr. Peter Salama, the World Health Organization’s deputy director general for emergencies, said the latest outbreak, in North Kivu Province, involves the Zaire strain of the virus.

That is the same strain as in the previous outbreak, 1,500 miles away in Équateur Province, which was officially declared over on July 24. The experimental vaccine helped to contain that outbreak.

There had been some concern that the vaccine might not work if the virus in North Kivu was a different strain.