Suspected Ebola deaths in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo rose sharply on Tuesday, as health authorities recorded 26 additional fatalities within 24 hours and warned that the outbreak was spreading into densely populated urban areas.
The latest figures bring the death toll linked to the outbreak to 131, according to a daily bulletin issued by Congolese health authorities. Officials have documented 516 suspected cases and 33 confirmed infections in Congo, while neighbouring Uganda has confirmed two cases.
The outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which has alarmed international health experts because there are currently no approved vaccines or virus-specific treatments for the strain.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on Saturday, warning that the virus had circulated undetected for weeks in a heavily populated region.
“I’m deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic,” Tedros told delegates at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday, pointing to rising infections in urban areas and among healthcare workers.
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Health authorities confirmed that the city of Butembo in North Kivu province had recorded its first two confirmed Ebola cases on Monday, according to Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research.
The spread into major urban centres has intensified fears of wider regional transmission in eastern Congo, where years of armed conflict and weak health infrastructure continue to hamper emergency response efforts.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids from infected people or animals and can cause symptoms including high fever, vomiting and internal and external bleeding. The WHO says the disease has an average fatality rate of around 50%, although previous outbreaks have ranged between 25% and 90%.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday that one American working in Congo had tested positive for Ebola.
The infected individual was identified by his Christian mission organisation as Dr Peter Stafford. The CDC said Stafford and six other Americans exposed to the virus would be transferred to Germany for treatment and monitoring.
The U.S. State Department said Washington had mobilised an initial $13 million in emergency assistance to support outbreak response operations.
Scientists and health agencies are now racing to explore possible treatment and vaccine options for the Bundibugyo strain.
The United States is working on the development of a monoclonal antibody therapy that could potentially be used as treatment, while a WHO-led panel of experts met Tuesday to examine whether existing Ebola vaccines might provide some level of protection.
Unlike the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, which has approved vaccines and therapies, the Bundibugyo strain currently lacks targeted medical countermeasures.
The outbreak has revived painful memories of the 2018-2020 Ebola epidemic in eastern Congo, the world’s second deadliest Ebola outbreak, which killed nearly 2,300 people in Ituri and North Kivu provinces.
Health officials also confirmed one Ebola case in Goma, the strategic eastern city that was seized last year by M23 rebels, raising concerns about the challenges of containing the virus in areas affected by insecurity and population displacement.
