Ebola outbreak kills 65 in eastern Congo, hundreds of cases suspected

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has left 65 people dead and likely infected 246 others, prompting an urgent response from health authorities.

The deaths and suspected cases have been recorded mainly in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones located in the remote northeastern province of Ituri, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement on X.

“Four deaths have been reported among laboratory-confirmed cases. Suspected cases have also been reported in Bunia, pending confirmation,” the agency said, referring to the capital of Ituri province, near the Ugandan border.

Preliminary test results detected Ebola in 13 to 20 samples.

Testing suggests the presence of a less lethal non-Ebola Zaire strain of the virus, with sequencing ongoing to further characterize the strain, the agency wrote. The Ebola Zaire strain has been prominent in past outbreaks in Congo.

Results confirming the strain are expected within 24 hours, the Africa CDC said.

Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the Congo had stockpiled treatments, including about 2,000 doses of the Ervebo Ebola vaccine. Though that vaccine is effective against the Ebola Zaire strain of the virus, it said.

Ituri is particularly vulnerable to outbreaks due to its remoteness and limited road infrastructure, making contact with the nation’s capital, Kinshasa — which is more than 1,000 kilometres away —extremely difficult.

Africa CDC also raised alarms over the risk of rapid spread due to significant population movement, insecurity in affected areas, gaps in contact tracing, difficulties in implementing control measures and its proximity to Uganda and South Sudan.

Health authorities from those countries are expected to convene on Friday to co-ordinate and implement measures to contain the spread alongside key partners, including UN agencies and other countries.

“The meeting will focus on immediate response priorities, cross-border coordination, surveillance, laboratory support, infection prevention and control, risk communication, safe and dignified burials, and resource mobilization,” it said.

This outbreak comes five months after another deadly spread of the Ebola virus in the central African nation, which led to 43 deaths and the 17th since the virus was discovered in the country in 1976.

A two-year Ebola outbreak between 2018 and 2020 in eastern Congo killed more than 1,000 people. An earlier outbreak that swept across West Africa between 2014 and 2016 killed more than 11,000 people, which led to more cases and deaths than all others combined. It also spread across countries, starting in Guinea and then moving across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Ebola is highly contagious and is passed to humans through contact with wild animals such as fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates, according to the WHO, and then spreads among humans primarily through bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The disease it causes is rare but severe and often fatal.

The average fatality rate among infected individuals is around 50 percent, though rates have varied from 25 to 90 per cent in past outbreaks, according to the health agency.

Current research suggests that fruit bats are the natural hosts of the Ebola virus.

— With files from The Associated Press