Ebola outbreak in Congo spreading exponentially as death toll surpasses 2,500, UN coordinator says
UN officials say the outbreak is growing faster than the response, with 160 healthcare workers sick and 43 dead as funding gaps widen.
- The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading three times faster than the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic, marking it as the fastest-growing outbreak on record.
- Caused by the Bundibugyo variant, the 17th recorded DRC outbreak remained undetected until May because diagnostic errors led doctors to misattribute patient symptoms to malaria, typhus, or seasonal flu.
- More than 5,100 infections and 2,420 deaths have been recorded since the outbreak began, with Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director Jean Kaseya noting 60% to 70% of fatalities occur in communities rather than hospitals.
- Congo will receive 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine to support containment efforts, yet the World Health Organization warns it has secured only 60% of the $115 million required for the full epidemic response.
- Although early laboratory and animal data suggest Ervebo may provide some protection against Bundibugyo, the lack of an approved vaccine for this strain and rapid community transmission remain significant obstacles to containment.
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82 Articles
Contact tracing, safe burials, and isolation sites. No country has as much experience with Ebola as the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is now grappling with its seventeenth outbreak since 1976. The outbreak was officially confirmed one hundred days ago, but researchers say the virus had been circulating for months before that. With more than 5,000 infections and over 2,300 deaths, it is the deadliest outbreak in the country's history. Due t…
According to the UN, more than 2,500 people have died at the current Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Authorities intensify vaccination, but WHO warns of the unprecedented rate of spread of the outbreak
The Straits Times
philenews.comEbola spreading exponentially in Congo as death toll tops 2,500, UN says
Aug 21 - More than 2,500 people have now died in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak, which is spreading exponentially in an area larger than France, senior United Nations Ebola coordinator Julien Harneis said on Friday. Read more at straitstimes.com.
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