Ebola in Congo: More than 2,000 Ebola deaths in Congo
Just under three months after the Ebola outbreak was announced in the Congo, more than 2,000 people have already died. The number of deaths and illnesses has not risen so quickly in any previous outbreak.
The number of Ebola deaths in the Congo has risen to more than 2,000. According to the Congolese government, almost three months after the official announcement of the outbreak, 2,011 people have died from the highly contagious disease. 4,381 people have fallen ill with Ebola during this period, and 704 are currently being treated in isolation wards. The mortality rate is currently 45.9 percent.
Jean Kaseya, the director of the African health authority Africa CDC, emphasized just a few days ago that the number of people infected and killed in the first twelve weeks of the outbreak is eight times and more than six times higher, respectively, than in the same period in the previously worst outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2016.
And while a total of 3,400 people fell ill in the previously worst Ebola outbreak in the Congo from 2018 to 2020, the number of patients in the current outbreak has risen to around 4,000 in just twelve weeks.
So far, there is no vaccine against Ebola fever, a life-threatening disease. The virus is transmitted through physical contact and contact with body fluids and causes a highly contagious fever with diarrhea and bleeding. The current outbreak is particularly difficult to contain, also because there is no specific vaccine or specific therapy for the Ebola pathogen of the Bundibugyo type.
Since the beginning of July, clinical testing of two antiviral therapy methods has been underway. Given the severity of the outbreak, it will also be investigated whether the pathogen may have mutated.
Contact tracing is difficult. Experts are particularly concerned that around 86 percent of the new Ebola cases are not attributable to the tracked contacts of confirmed cases. "We believe that there are more and more cases that are not reported," Kaseya said. In order to successfully contain the outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) says that around 95 percent of the contacts of Ebola patients need to be traced.
The outbreak is occurring in a region marked by violence and insecurity. The center of the outbreak is located in the northeastern Congolese province of Ituri, which is characterized by insecurity and a large number of internally displaced persons living in extremely cramped conditions. There are numerous other cases in the provinces of North and South Kivu, where the security situation is also a major problem.
The provinces of North and South Kivu are controlled by rebels fighting against the government and militias allied with it. In Ituri, the rebel group ADF, which is allied with the terrorist militia IS, is attacking villages.
Translated by urgent.news. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
