The Africa Centers for Disease Control (Africa CDC) issued a warning on Thursday stating that Ebola continues to spread in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Although the number of cases has decreased in Ituri province, the outbreak is now increasing in the adjacent provinces of North Kivu and Haut-Uele.
The DRC government reported on Thursday a total of 6,843 confirmed cases since the outbreak began in May, with the death toll reaching 3,310.
Of the confirmed cases, more than 5,400 originated in Ituri province, while North Kivu has now recorded over 1,000 cases. Africa CDC noted that new infections in North Kivu have more than doubled in the last three weeks, with some cases emerging from two health zones that had previously been free of infections.
A 23-year-old man succumbed to the virus on Thursday in Gwaka, a town in the northwestern Sud-Ubangi province, marking the first reported case there. This brought the total number of provinces affected by Ebola in the DRC to seven, with Sud-Ubangi being the first in the country’s western region.
Jean-Jacques Mbungani, a lawmaker from Sud-Ubangi and former health minister, explained that the man had traveled from South Kivu, passing through Rwanda and Uganda over three weeks before arriving in Ituri, the region where the outbreak was believed to have started.
After traveling through Tshopo and Mongala provinces, he reached Sud-Ubangi, where he fell seriously ill and passed away, including a portion of his trip via boat on the Congo River.
His case complicates matters for contact tracers, who must figure out where he contracted the virus and identify anyone he had encountered during his travels.
“Thirty-eight individuals have been identified as having had contact with the patient and are currently in quarantine,” stated the acting governor of South-Ubangi, Jean-Rene Galekwa Vundawe, on Friday
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Moreover, it’s concerning that Sud-Ubangi shares a border with the Central African Republic (CAR). The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned about the potential for the outbreak to extend into CAR and Sudan.
Recently, WHO released its update on the Ebola Bundibugyo situation, stating that there is “evidence of ongoing geographical expansion and sustained increase in cases in some health zones.” They also mentioned that “delayed detection of cases” continues to hinder containment efforts.
In its update, WHO noted that the outbreak is unfolding within a complicated humanitarian environment marked by insecurity, armed conflict, and widespread displacement of people.
Further complicating the situation, the DRC region affected by the outbreak faces challenges such as “overcrowding, inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene services, and limited access to healthcare in mining communities,” while “informal settlements and locations for displaced persons impede early detection and infection control measures.”
The DRC started administering a vaccine known as Ervebo to healthcare workers and emergency responders in August, which is designed for the more common Zaire strain of Ebola.
The United Nations has provided 70,000 doses of this vaccine to the DRC, hoping it may offer some protection against the Bundibugyo strain. Out of those doses, 20,000 were set aside for frontline health workers, with the remainder being used in a clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of Ervebo against Ebola Bundibugyo. The vaccine is generally recognized for having minimal side effects, so experimenting with it seems reasonable.
Preliminary laboratory and animal studies indicate that it might offer some level of protection. Therefore, the clinical trial aims to produce vital new evidence, essential for policymakers in determining the future usage of the Ervebo vaccine, as noted by WHO in August.
Currently, at least five vaccine candidates aimed at combating the Bundibugyo strain are undergoing testing, including one produced by the Minapharm Group from Egypt. The Minapharm vaccine was developed by a unit in Berlin called ProBioGen, which has had success with vaccines against smallpox, monkeypox, and Ebola Zaire in the past.
