Geneva, Switzerland. The World Health Organisation said on Friday that there were 906 suspected cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including 223 suspected deaths under investigation. The outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain is ongoing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with cases also reported in Uganda.
Confirmed cases
The WHO said there have been 125 confirmed cases of Ebola in the DRC, including 17 confirmed deaths in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu. It also said there have been seven confirmed cases in Uganda, three of them imported from the DRC, and one death, while no community transmission has been reported.
Later on Friday, Uganda’s health ministry reported nine confirmed cases.
Public health emergency
The Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo likely started two months ago, the WHO said in early May. The outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no vaccine, was declared by the WHO a public health emergency of international concern.
The agency said the outbreak has alarmed experts because it went undetected for a long period while spreading across a densely populated area, making it difficult to trace and isolate contacts of infected individuals.
Fatality rate and response
Anais Legand of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme said the fatality rate among confirmed cases is between 30 per cent and 50 per cent, adding that the data remains preliminary and needs further investigation.
“It’s huge. It means that up to five out of ten people are likely to die,” Legand said, adding that early care could help reduce fatalities.
Legand said the first recovered patient was discharged from a health centre in the DRC after two negative tests, and said she hoped more people would recover while stressing the importance of early access to care.
The WHO said testing capacity is being improved and that it expects most of the backlog of test samples from suspected cases to be processed in the coming days. Legand said the number of suspected cases is likely to rise, adding that this indicates surveillance is working.
