The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reached a sixth province after a man who travelled from Isiro in Haut-Uele died in Buta, the capital of previously unaffected Bas-Uele, Africa CDC director general Jean Kaseya said Thursday.
The outbreak has killed more than 2,100 people among more than 4,500 cases, according to the latest government figures released Tuesday. The figures show a substantially faster spread than the 2014–16 west Africa outbreak, which had recorded 755 cases at the same point.
What officials have confirmed
Six of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s 26 provinces have now been affected, mainly along the country’s north-eastern border. Ituri, where the outbreak was first reported, accounts for more than 3,400 cases.
The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. There are no approved vaccines or treatments specifically for this strain, although clinical trials of two possible treatments began last month in Ituri and two strain-specific vaccines are being tested in people for the first time.
Related coverage: UN Calls for Accelerated Action to Contain Ebola Spread in DR Congo Amid Complex Crisis.
Why the outbreak is expanding so quickly
The outbreak was declared on 15 May, but World Health Organization sequencing indicates it began months earlier, in February. Health authorities say 60% to 70% of new cases are being recorded outside the contacts under monitoring, making it harder to contain transmission.
The response is also facing strikes by unpaid health workers, cuts to global development aid, threats from rebel groups, distrust in communities affected by earlier trauma and misinformation claiming Ebola is not real. Workers at the Nizi treatment centre in Ituri temporarily closed the facility Thursday after saying they had not been paid for three months.
What happens next
WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the outbreak was on course to surpass the 2014–16 west Africa epidemic, which killed at least 11,000 people. The current death toll has been reached almost three times faster than in that outbreak.
More context: WHO warns DR Congo Ebola crisis is spreading beyond containment.
WHO emergency response chief Abdirahman Mahamud said a turnaround could come within three months if the response is implemented simultaneously across the five transmission zones. Under a moderate scenario, he said the outbreak’s peak could still be six months away and the outbreak could last nine to 12 months.
Uganda has reported 20 cases, all in Kampala. Its last reported case was on 21 June, and no community transmission has been recorded there. The true scope of the outbreak remains unknown.
Also read: What the new Ebola transmission finding means for the DRC outbreak.
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