Ebola deaths in eastern Congo rise to 131 as outbreak spreads
False negative tests delayed detection as the rare Bundibugyo strain spread to neighboring provinces and Uganda, with 513 suspected cases reported.
- On Tuesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed deep concern over the 'scale and speed' of a Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in Congo, which has killed 131 people with over 500 suspected cases.
- The rare Bundibugyo strain lacks approved vaccines or therapeutics, and the virus spread undetected for weeks after locals mistook symptoms for a 'mystical illness,' Congolese Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said.
- American physician Dr. Peter Stafford tested positive after treating patients in Ituri province, and German officials are preparing to admit and treat him at the request of the United States.
- Authorities confirmed cases spreading to urban centers and neighboring Uganda, prompting the World Health Organization to convene an emergency committee while Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi urged citizens to keep 'calm.'
- Persistent humanitarian crises and armed group clashes in Ituri and North Kivu provinces hinder response teams in a remote region with some of the world's worst infrastructure, complicating outbreak coordination.
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325 Articles
The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) openly expressed his concern on Tuesday about the “magnitude and speed” of an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola known as Bundibugyo in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where authorities reported 134 suspicious deaths and more than 500 possible cases.
Several African countries are sounding the alarm. The number of Ebola deaths continues to rise. Already in 2014 and 2015 there had been a devastating outbreak.
Several countries announced precautionary measures after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Tuesday about the scale and speed of the Ebola epidemic in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and warned that this new epidemic can last in this isolated and fragile region by the presence of armed groups, reports AFP.
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