WHO warns Congo Ebola outbreak is fastest-growing, spread now untraceable

By 11 July, the Ebola toll in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had climbed to close to 2,000 confirmed cases and more than 700 deaths across five provinces. Unknown chains of transmission now account for 80% of new Ebola cases in the country, and the outbreak is the third-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded.

Investigators are no longer following each infection back to a known exposure. WHO’s emergency chief, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said many of the newest deaths were people who died in their communities before reaching a health facility, and that treatment centres were at saturation point. In Bunia, the outbreak’s epicenter in Ituri Province, WHO’s Dr. Anne Ancia said the agency was still working to understand “the chain of transmission” while daily testing capacity rose to more than 2,000 and contact monitoring topped 10,000 people.

WHO declared the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 17 May, then joined Africa CDC on 5 June in a continental preparedness and response plan seeking US$518 million to help countries detect, isolate and trace cases faster. On 6 June, the DRC had 515 confirmed cases and 91 deaths, plus 19 confirmed cases and two deaths in Uganda. By 1 July, the DRC had 1,460 confirmed cases, Uganda had 20, France had one linked case, and there were 454 deaths across the affected countries.

The outbreak has moved beyond Ituri into Haut-Uele and Tshopo, while cases have spread across 36 health zones in the DRC and 102 confirmed infections among health and care workers. Cross-border spread in Uganda and a laboratory-confirmed case in a medical doctor returning to France from the DRC have widened the footprint. On 13 July, no Ebola cases had been confirmed in the United States, and the risk to the American public and travelers remained low, and the outbreak is spreading substantially faster than previous Ebola outbreaks. Clinical trials on candidate therapeutics began on 2 July, and there is still no approved, proven cure for Bundibugyo Ebola.