Ebola outbreak in DR Congo spreads to seventh province
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ebola fever outbreak has spread to a seventh province — South Ubangi in the northwest of the country. The country’s national research institute detected traces of the Bundibugyo virus in a sample — a rare type of Ebola virus that caused the current outbreak, PBS NewsHour reports, citing local authorities.
Case in South Ubangi
Provincial Governor Jean-René Galekwe Wundave said that the sample was taken in the Bulu health district. Former health minister and local lawmaker Jean-Jacques Mbungani said that the positive case was registered in the town of Gwaka. According to him, a 23-year-old man died.
Mbungani told the Associated Press that medical workers and local authorities were alerted about a patient with fever and bloody vomiting. The man died on Tuesday, after which samples were sent to the national research institute. According to the lawmaker, over the course of three weeks, he left South Kivu province, visited Rwanda and Uganda, went to Ituri — the epicenter of the outbreak — and then traveled through the provinces of Tshopo, Mongala and South Ubangi.
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Risk of regional spread
South Ubangi became the first province in western DR Congo where the outbreak was recorded. Previously, confirmed cases had been registered in Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele, Tshopo and Bas-Uele. South Ubangi does not border these eastern provinces, but it shares borders with the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. Mbungani expressed concerns about the regional spread of the disease.
As of Wednesday, the DR Congo government reported 6,942 cases and 3,349 deaths. The World Health Organization said that the outbreak remains uncontrolled and could exceed the scale of the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, when more than 11,000 people died.
Vaccination and trials
Last month, DR Congo began vaccinating medical workers and other frontline personnel with the Ervebo vaccine, which was effective against the more common Zaire strain of the virus. Clinical trials of a vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus are ongoing. They began in the provinces of Tshopo, Haut-Uele and Bas-Uele; the start in Ituri was planned for next week.
