Ebola Outbreak in Congo Becomes Country’s Deadliest on Record | Ukraine news

Health workers are confronting a dangerous combination of delayed diagnoses, limited treatment options and a virus strain without an approved vaccine.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has become the deadliest in the country’s history. The infection has claimed 2,325 lives, while the total number of confirmed cases has reached 4,945. In the past 24 hours alone, medical workers identified 101 new infections.

This is the 17th recorded Ebola outbreak in the DRC. By late July, it had already surpassed the country’s previous record for the number of infections, and it has now set a new grim record for deaths as well. During the 2018–2020 epidemic, 2,299 people died in the country.

Three months after it was officially declared, the current epidemic is surpassed in scale only by the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. At that time, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone recorded 28,616 infections and 11,310 deaths.

Why Ebola deaths are increasing

The current outbreak was caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus. There is still no approved vaccine or proven treatment for it. The epidemic was officially declared on May 15, after which the disease began spreading rapidly due to weak healthcare infrastructure, resistance from some communities, and instability in the country.

The fatality rate among patients with confirmed Ebola has risen from around 20% in early June to 46%. Specialists attribute this trend not to a change in the virus’s severity, but to difficulties with epidemiological surveillance, delays in identifying infected people, and limited access to medical care.

Usually, as an outbreak progresses, the proportion of fatal cases should decline because contact tracing improves and patients are identified and treated earlier. Instead, we are still seeing many cases detected far too late, when treatment has less chance of success, while many people are found only after dying in the community.

– Thomas Parisch, Médecins Sans Frontières

Vaccines against Bundibugyo and the situation in Uganda

Specialists are currently evaluating a small number of experimental vaccines and therapies. International health agencies are also examining whether existing treatments for other Ebola strains can protect people against Bundibugyo. However, the evidence available so far is limited to the results of animal studies.

The virus had previously spread to neighboring Uganda. Authorities there managed to contain the situation: 20 infections were confirmed and two deaths were recorded. Last month, the country declared the outbreak over.

Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, whether alive or deceased. The disease can cause fever, vomiting, and diarrhea, and in severe cases, internal and external bleeding. Early detection of patients and rapid isolation remain crucial to containing the spread of the infection.