WHO reports 906 suspected Ebola cases and 223 suspected deaths in DR Congo

Geneva: The World Health Organisation said on Friday that 906 suspected Ebola cases have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including 223 suspected deaths that are under investigation.

The agency said an outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola is continuing in the DRC, while cases have also been detected in Uganda. In the DRC, 125 cases have been confirmed, including 17 confirmed deaths, in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu.

WHO said Uganda has reported seven confirmed Ebola cases, three of them imported from the DRC, along with one death. It added that no community transmission has been reported in Uganda.

According to the WHO, the outbreak in eastern DRC likely began about two months ago, a timeline the agency had indicated in early May. The organisation has declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain a public health emergency of international concern. The strain has raised concern among experts because there is no vaccine for it and because it spread for a prolonged period before being detected in a densely populated area, complicating efforts to trace contacts and isolate infected people.

Fatality concerns and response

Anais Legand of the High Threat Pathogens Team, part of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said the death rate among confirmed cases is estimated at between 30 per cent and 50pc, while stressing that the figures remain preliminary and need further investigation.

Speaking about the severity of the outbreak, she said:

It’s huge. It means that up to five out of 10 people are likely to die

Legand said early treatment could help reduce fatality rates. She also said the first recovered patient had been discharged from a health centre in the DRC after receiving two negative test results, and expressed hope that more patients would recover as access to early care improves.

The WHO said laboratory testing capacity is being strengthened and that it expects most of the backlog of samples from suspected cases to be processed in the coming days. Legand said the number of suspected cases is likely to rise, but added that this reflects surveillance efforts identifying more possible infections.

On whether the outbreak may already have passed its high point, she said investigations were still continuing.

As for whether the peak has passed, investigations are still ongoing. I don’t think we can ​say that at this stage