Democratic Republic of Congo Ebola Outbreak Kills 2,011 as Cases Reach 4,381

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak has killed at least 2,000 people, with government data showing 4,381 confirmed cases and 2,011 deaths, as the crisis is described as the fastest-growing on record.

“Government data published overnight into Tuesday showed the outbreak has 4,381 confirmed cases, including 2,011 deaths.”

AP News

The outbreak was declared on May 15, but WHO said sequencing indicated it began months earlier in February, and the death toll reached the first 1,000 in about nine weeks before doubling in around three weeks.

Al Jazeera

At the epicenter in eastern Congo’s Ituri province, friends and family gathered in tears on Tuesday for the burial of Jeannine Katusabe, 38, after Christophe Logo said she sought traditional treatment at home and only went to the local Ebola treatment center after her condition worsened.

WHO warned that officials are still playing catch-up, with Dr Mohamed Janabi telling a news conference, "We are chasing the virus, the virus is ahead of us."

A Reuters report said a new study published on Monday in the journal Nature Medicine analyzed virus samples from 22 patients in Congo and Uganda and found the outbreak strain was genetically distinct from previous Bundibugyo Ebola viruses seen in outbreaks in 2007 and 2012.

Reuters said the findings suggest the outbreak began with a fresh animal-to-human transmission event and was then spread between people, while the study did not identify the animal source.

AP News

The same Reuters account said wider access to testing and virus sequencing could help detect future Ebola outbreaks earlier and improve efforts to contain them, and it noted there is no approved vaccine or treatment for Bundibugyo.

In Bunia, the WHO regional director for Africa, Dr. Mohamed Janabi, said the Bundibugyo virus continues to outpace response, telling a press conference, "The Bundibugyo virus continues to outpace us."

The UN News report said between 60 and 70 per cent of deaths are happening in communities far from care, and it described the problem as central to WHO’s response because too many patients are receiving treatment too late.

“Between 60 and 70 per cent of deaths are happening in communities far from care”

UN News

WHO said it wants to break a chain of transmission by bringing healthcare facilities closer to communities and promptly referring suspected cases to appropriate centres, and Dr. Janabi said, "Village centres outside of Bunia, they don’t have these services."

France 24 reported that health authorities struggle to get help to remote localities due to rebel conflict, bad roads and work stoppages over payment issues, while it also said the case fatality rate of the current outbreak is estimated at 45.9 percent.

France 24 added that WHO vaccine experts recommended a full-scale human trial of the only existing approved Ebola vaccine, the Ervebo vaccine, to see if it offered cross-protection against the strain currently spreading in the DRC against which no specific vaccine currently exists.