Health workers are battling the discovery of new Ebola cases in the border regions of Sud-Ubangi and Haut-Uélé.
The Ebola virus caused by the Bundibugyo strain has spread to two new health zones in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
New cases were discovered in Bulu, in the South Oubangui governorate, on the border with the Central African Republic, and in Dungu, in the Haut-Uélé province, on the border with South Sudan, the WHO announced on Friday.
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The additional cases bring the number of affected health zones in seven provinces to 63, as authorities struggle to control the outbreak.
As of September 23, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC, had reported 7,890 confirmed cases and 3,799 deaths, according to the WHO. This means that almost half of those infected have died.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said conflict and population displacement were making it more difficult for health workers to reach affected communities and trace people who may have been exposed to the virus.
“It is very difficult to look at Ebola in isolation, because even our response to Ebola is affected by the conflict, because there is displacement and there is a problem of access to certain areas,” Tedros said.
The Bundibugyo strain is difficult to treat because there are no approved vaccines, Tedros said, adding that the WHO is accelerating clinical trials of vaccines and treatments.
Contact tracing fails
Meanwhile, health workers searching for people who may have been exposed to the Bundibugyo strain are falling short.
According to Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the more than 7,000 confirmed cases are expected to translate into about 420,000 contacts.
“But currently we only have 30,000 people in the contact list,” Kaseya said.
“When the epidemic is at the community level, we cannot talk about control,” he added.
Ituri province in northeastern DRC continues to be the epicenter of the outbreak, with 6,032 confirmed cases since the outbreak began in May, including 868 new confirmed cases reported over the past 21 days.
North Kivu is the second most affected province, with 1,480 new cases, including 567 reported in the last 21 days. The province now accounts for about a third of new confirmed cases and deaths, the WHO said in a report on Sunday.
Nearly 60 percent of those diagnosed in North Kivu have died, significantly higher than the national average of 48 percent, the data shows.
Medical staff say patients avoid health facilities until it is too late.
“Patients think that if they arrive at the hospital, they will immediately be sent to the treatment center to die,” said Dr. Michel Paluku Mukuloli, who works at a hospital in Butembo, North Kivu.
This complicates efforts to identify cases and begin treatment before the disease reaches its most dangerous stages.
North Kivu has been the epicenter of three previous Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2018-2020, which was the DRC’s largest and deadliest until this year. These outbreaks, however, were caused by another type of Ebola virus, known as the Zaire strain.
Much less is known about the Bundibugyo strain. But stakeholders say that in the early stages of infection, patients often have milder symptoms, easily confused with more common illnesses such as malaria and typhoid fever.
Gn Health
