WHO says Congo Ebola outbreak is Africa’s largest first-month surge

By June 23, Congo's Ebola outbreak had climbed past 1,000 confirmed cases and 267 deaths, and the World Health Organization called it the largest first-month surge of any Ebola outbreak in Africa. Abdirahman Mahamud, speaking in Geneva, said the response was improving but still lagged behind the virus: “this outbreak is moving faster than us.”

Early cases were found in Bunia and Mongbwalu, where dense movement and closer contact can fuel transmission far faster than in a purely rural outbreak. The virus had been circulating for months before Congo’s Ministry of Health formally declared the outbreak on May 15, after eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases and more than 65 suspected deaths in Ituri province.

Africa CDC places the outbreak’s start in Mongbwalu and its spread in the Bunia and Rwampara health zones. The epidemic is unfolding in a difficult setting marked by insecurity, humanitarian crisis, a remote but densely populated area and heavy population and trade movements, conditions that can undermine isolation, contact tracing and safe burials.

On June 6, WHO put the tally at 515 confirmed cases and 91 deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, along with 19 confirmed cases, two deaths and one probable death in Uganda. Part of the rise reflected expanded testing and the clearing of a backlog of samples, but the cross-border spread also showed how easily the outbreak could escape the country’s eastern health zones.

Ebola beds rose to more than 500 in the previous two weeks, and Mahamud said community resistance to response teams appeared to be easing. The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo species of Ebola virus, which has no licensed vaccine or specific treatment. On May 28, WHO and advisory groups met to assess candidate vaccines and treatments, while responders continued to rely on surveillance, contact tracing, clinical preparedness, supplies and community engagement. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts this at Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak since 1976 and its second Bundibugyo outbreak.