The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is spreading rapidly, the UN said
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is spreading rapidly and could spread to neighboring countries if measures to contain the virus are not strengthened. This was stated by the UN’s senior Ebola coordinator, Julien Arneis, according to Deutsche Welle.
According to Arneis, the epidemic has spread across an area larger than France. More than 5,000 cases of infection and over 2,500 deaths have been recorded in the DRC. Half of the deaths were reported in the last 20 days, the UN representative noted. He also emphasized that the epidemic is spreading faster and over a larger area than Ebola response efforts are able to keep up with.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugio virus—a rare strain of Ebola for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment. The first cases this year were detected in the northeastern province of Ituri, where armed groups are active and medical infrastructure is weak. Since then, the virus has spread to five more provinces in the DRC, as well as to neighboring Uganda.
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DRC authorities officially declared the outbreak on May 15, although experts believe the virus may have been circulating earlier. Officials are calling this outbreak the fastest-spreading in recorded history: it is spreading about three times faster than the 2014–2016 outbreak in West Africa, which claimed about 11,000 lives.
The World Health Organization announced that it will immediately provide the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine manufactured by Merck. Of these, 20,000 doses are intended for a Phase III clinical trial designed to evaluate the vaccine’s effectiveness against the Bundibugio virus, while another 50,000 are for frontline workers and healthcare professionals. Ervebo is approved for use against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, but the WHO noted that early results from animal studies suggest it may also provide protection against the Bundibugyo virus.
