Ebola Kills 204 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Threatens 10 African Countries

 Ebola virus

Ebola Kills 204 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Threatens 10 African Countries

The Ebola epidemic has claimed the lives of 204 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo out of 867 suspected cases, according to the latest figures released by the Ministry of Health on Saturday.

 African health authorities warned of the risk of the epidemic spreading to ten other countries on the continent. A previous tally from the World Health Organization on Friday reported 177 deaths out of 750 suspected cases.

The Democratic Republic of Congo announced on May 15 an outbreak of the Bundibugyo variant of the virus, which is responsible for the current epidemic and has a fatality rate of up to 50% in the absence of a vaccine or treatment, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). 

The World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern to address this seventeenth outbreak of the virus in this vast Central African country with a population of over 100 million. 

Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years, with a fatality rate ranging from 25% to 90%, according to World Health Organization figures. The deadliest outbreak of the disease occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo, resulting in approximately 2,300 deaths out of 3,500 cases between 2018 and 2020.

Consequences of Infection

The virus causes a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever that can be fatal. It remains extremely dangerous despite recently developed vaccines and treatments, which are limited to the Zaire virus, responsible for the majority of past outbreaks.

In the absence of an approved vaccine and treatment for the Bundibugyo variant of the virus responsible for the current outbreak, measures to contain its spread rely primarily on adherence to isolation protocols and rapid testing. Uganda, which borders the Democratic Republic of Congo, confirmed three new cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of infected individuals to five, one of whom has died.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, only a few laboratory tests have been conducted so far, given that the outbreak is concentrated in a remote and inaccessible area where armed groups are active. The Ministry of Health stated that the officially confirmed death toll stands at 10, while the number of confirmed cases has reached 91.

Ten countries at risk

The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Jean Kasiya, warned during a press conference on Saturday in Kampala, Uganda, that there are "ten countries at risk" of an outbreak: South Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Angola, the Central African Republic, and Zambia. 

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that the risk of an outbreak remains "low at the global level," noting that its spread could last for more than two months.

Ebola is spreading in three provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the outbreak concentrated in Ituri province, which borders Uganda and South Sudan in the northeast. 

Ituri is a gold-rich province where mining operations lead to heavy daily population movement and have been plagued for years by clashes between local militias, making access to some areas difficult. 

From Ituri, the disease has spread to North and South Kivu, where the anti-government armed group M23 controls vast areas. Kasia said that "population movement and insecurity" are facilitating the spread of the epidemic.

The response to the epidemic is lagging in Ituri.

Dozens of tons of equipment have been sent and World Health Organization teams have been deployed, but the response to the epidemic is lagging in Ituri, a province with an estimated population of over 8 million, including one million internally displaced people living in overcrowded camps.

Public gatherings and traffic on main roads have been restricted in the affected provinces, and Congolese authorities have suspended flights to and from Bunia, the capital of Ituri. In neighboring Rwanda, authorities have barred entry to foreign nationals who have transited through the Democratic Republic of Congo and imposed quarantine on Rwandans arriving from that country.

The United States has strengthened health screening measures at its borders for air travelers arriving from African countries with reported cases. This new outbreak, the seventeenth in the Democratic Republic of Congo, comes at a time when NGOs are struggling with declining international aid, particularly from the United States, which withdrew from the World Health Organization.