Sunday, June 14, was not a good day in the battle against the Ebola outbreak in central Africa. That day saw 72 new confirmed cases, one of the highest daily totals during the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Also on that day, Congo’s Ministry of Health confirmed that the outbreak had now affected two additional health zones, Nia-Nia in Ituri province and Mabalako in North Kivu. The outbreak has become one of Congo’s largest Ebola epidemics on record, and officials say that transmission has not been contained. Congo now has confirmed cases in 20 of Ituri’s 36 health zones and in 10 of North Kivu’s 34 health zones, as well as in one health zone in South Kivu. Congo has 181 confirmed deaths from the outbreak and is treating 782 confirmed cases. The epicenter of the outbreak is Ituri province in eastern Congo, which has 90% of all confirmed cases. In neighboring Uganda, there are 19 confirmed cases, including two deaths. There are 56 Ebola patients who have recovered from the current outbreak, and key to their survival was early detection and immediate care. The fatality rate currently stands at 23%.
The culprit in this outbreak is the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, a rare variant for which there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment. Congo’s previous 17 Ebola outbreaks were caused by the much more common Zaire strain of Ebola, for which vaccines and treatments have been very effective.
This current outbreak was officially declared on May 15, but health authorities believe that the virus was spreading for weeks before it was detected. Adding to the problem of the containment efforts is the ongoing conflict in the area and the estimated one million displaced people fleeing the fighting. Residents are forced to move frequently across remote and hard-to-reach areas. Many of these armed groups operate in close proximity to health workers which adds to insecurity. Thousands of artisanal miners also move between remote mining sites and cross national borders. Dense forests, poor road infrastructure, and isolated villages have made contact tracing or surveillance operations difficult.
