The death toll in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) due to the current Ebola outbreak in the east of the country, declared on May 15, now reaches 1,033, Congolese authorities confirmed.
Ebola figures in Congo
According to the latest bulletin from the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) of the DRC, with data collected until July 21, 2,536 confirmed cases (including deaths) have been recorded so far, which places the fatality rate at 40.7%.
In addition, 738 patients are in “isolation or hospitalization” and 506 people have managed to recover from the disease, while the contact tracing rate rises to 77.2%.
So far, five Congolese provinces have been affected by the Ebola outbreak: Ituri (epicenter of the outbreak), North Kivu, South Kivu and Haut-Uele (east), as well as Tshopo (central-north).
The INSP warned that “the results of contact tracing remain insufficient”, so “reinforcement” of surveillance is needed.
The data indicate that the epidemic remains in “a phase of continued transmission, with a high level of virus circulation,” the agency added, warning that “recent fluctuations should be interpreted with caution due to delays in notification and the progressive consolidation of data.”
The epidemic reached Uganda
After being declared on May 15 in Ituri, a province bordering South Sudan and Uganda, the epidemic also spread to this second country.
However, Uganda discharged the last patient admitted to the country just a week ago, after having recorded a total of 20 confirmed infections, including 15 cases considered imported from the DRC, among which there were two deaths.
Uganda thus began the countdown of 42 days without new infections necessary to declare the end of the outbreak.
The Bundibugyo strain: lethality between 30% and 50% and without authorized vaccine or treatment
The epidemic corresponds to the Bundibugyo strain, whose fatality rate ranges between 30% and 50% and for which there is no authorized vaccine or specific treatment, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which considers the risk of expansion of the outbreak in sub-Saharan Africa “high” and “low” on a global scale.
This is the third worst Ebola epidemic in recorded history and is the seventeenth to affect the DRC.
The current outbreak is behind the one that hit West Africa between 2014 and 2016, which left about 11,000 dead and 28,000 infections, and another that affected eastern Congo between 2018 and 2020 and caused 2,299 deaths and 3,481 cases.
The Ebola virus is transmitted through direct contact with body fluids of infected people or animals and causes severe hemorrhagic fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and internal bleeding.
