DAKAR, SENEGAL – The Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda has claimed more than 200 lives in its first month, making it the deadliest outbreak yet, with up to 35,000 people suspected of having been in contact with it, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
Dr. Wessam Mankoula, a medical epidemiologist at the Africa CDC, said that with 894 confirmed cases so far, this outbreak is three times worse than the previous outbreak in Uganda in 2000, when 281 people were infected during the same period.
The latest number of cases is believed to be even higher, as the infection was confirmed on May 15, several weeks after the outbreak was thought to have begun. Mankoura said the number of infections has increased by 38% since last week and is now in 32 health zones across eastern Congo.
The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment and was initially untested. The more common Zaire virus, for which a vaccine exists, has been responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.
So far, 74 patients have recovered from the disease across eastern Congo and Uganda. Experimental treatments such as monoclonal antibodies have been developed for Bundibugyo.
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The outbreak is concentrated in eastern Congo’s Ituri province, which accounts for more than 90% of cases. Cases have also been recorded in North and South Kivu provinces, and the virus has spread across the border into Uganda, with 19 confirmed cases and two deaths.
Dr Mankoura said contact tracing remained an issue due to the region’s remoteness and the security situation in Ituri.
“For these 800 confirmed cases, between 17,000 and 35,000 contacts should be on the contact list,” Mankoura said. Currently, only about 4,000 contacts are being traced and evaluated, less than 15%.
“We are still far from controlling this epidemic,” Mankoura said.
Years of conflict have displaced nearly 1 million people in Ituri, according to the U.N. Humanitarian Office, and contact tracing is difficult as people flee attacks and move frequently in the vast province, which has dense forest, poor roads and remote villages that can take days to reach.
Health workers at the epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak are working with little pay or time off.
It is also difficult to track the thousands of miners who regularly move between remote parts of the mineral-rich region.
Of the more than $900 million pledged to fight the outbreak, only $90 million has been disbursed to help fight the outbreak, further complicating the ongoing crisis, Mancura said.
The Africa CDC estimates it needs 540 personnel to fight the outbreak, but currently only has 84.
“We are closely monitoring the swift implementation of these new pledges and will follow up with various member states and partners on their commitments to turn these pledges into real funds and release them to affected countries and partners,” Mankoura said.
— Wilson McMakin
