Outbreak of Ebola Confirmed in DRC

Johannesburg — The Health Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Samuel Roger Kamba, announced last week that a highly infectious Zaire strain of the Ebola virus has reemerged in the Central Kasai Province. So far, there have been 16 confirmed deaths along with 28 suspected cases, which includes four cases among healthcare workers.

According to the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, the first known case, referred to as the index case, was a pregnant woman, 34 years old, who was admitted on August 20. Unfortunately, she died five days later with symptoms typical of hemorrhagic fever, including bloody diarrhea, nasal bleeding, vomiting, and rectal bleeding.

The transmission of the Ebola virus occurs through close contact with infected wildlife, most commonly bats. Once it infects humans, it spreads via bodily fluids through direct human-to-human contact. As of September 4, the World Health Organization noted that the fatality rate from this outbreak in Congo stands at 57%, with a significant 80% of cases occurring in individuals aged 15 and older.

This outbreak marks the sixth within just seven years in the DRC, making it the highest frequency of such incidents since the virus’s discovery in 1976.

A team of first responders arrived on Sunday in the Bulape health zone, bringing medical supplies to address the outbreak.

In Kinshasa, the country’s capital, health workers and first responders from the Ministry of Health, WHO, and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were vaccinated before heading to the affected areas.

The DRC currently possesses a stockpile of 2,000 vaccine doses and has plans to acquire more shortly, according to the WHO.

Patrick Otim, the emergency response coordinator for the WHO in the region, informed reporters on September 4 that efforts are underway to trace contacts of known cases, enhance field laboratory testing, and bolster community responses for prompt reporting.

He acknowledged the DRC’s request for additional vaccines and emphasized the importance of early supportive care, noting that the WHO is working to provide more medical supplies, including protective gear essential for managing the outbreak.

The previous two outbreaks in 2022 were managed swiftly, but that was before significant funding cuts to international health programs, including the WHO, during the Trump administration.

Those funding cuts have raised concerns in Africa and other regions regarding the ability of countries and global health organizations to effectively respond to and contain outbreaks like Ebola, which could potentially reach the U.S.

“The recent cuts will certainly have an impact,” Otim stated. “As a global community, we need to collaborate to halt this virus, as diseases do not recognize borders.”

“From our experiences with past outbreaks, we’ve learned that prompt provision of supplies and resources is critical to stopping transmission,” he added.

In January, President Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the WHO, citing the agency’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health crises as reasons, including its failure to reform and its vulnerability to political influences from member states. The Trump administration also criticized the WHO for demanding disproportionately high payments from the U.S. compared to other nations.

The WHO quickly warned that uncertainty about future U.S. funding could necessitate cutting back spending in ways that would affect its operations.

Currently, the DRC’s healthcare system is already under strain as it deals with an ongoing mpox outbreak, which has reported around 130,000 suspected cases and about 2,000 deaths since last year. Complicating the response, the closest medical isolation unit to the outbreak has only 15 beds, and travel from Kinshasa can take up to three days, further slowing the arrival of medical teams and supplies.

To assist in containing and treating the outbreak, the WHO has dispatched approximately 13 tons of emergency medical supplies to the DRC.

Moreover, other African countries have heightened alert levels at border checkpoints and health facilities to detect any potential Ebola cases.