The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo killed 2,325 people, according to government data released this Sunday (16), surpassing the number of deaths in the 2018-2020 period and becoming the deadliest in the country's history.
The Congo Institute of Public Health said in its latest report that confirmed cases rose to 4,945, including 101 new cases detected in the last 24 hours.
The outbreak, the 17th in Congo, was already the largest in the country's history in terms of number of cases – a milestone reached at the end of July. The latest government data shows that the total number of deaths has surpassed the 2,299 recorded in the 2018-2020 outbreak, which until then was the worst in the country's history.
Three months after the formal announcement, the outbreak is now only surpassed by the 2014-2016 Ebola in West Africa, in which 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths were recorded in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization.
It took almost five months from the declaration of that outbreak to reach 1,000 deaths, while the current outbreak reached 2,000 deaths in less than three months.
There is no treatment
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola virus, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments. The outbreak has gained momentum since it was declared on May 15, as fragile health infrastructure, community resistance and instability hamper efforts to identify and respond to cases.
The proportion of people who die from the outbreak after a confirmed infection, known as the case fatality rate, has risen from around 20% in early June to 46%, according to government data, meaning almost one in two confirmed cases is now fatal.
Experts say the trend does not indicate that the virus has become more lethal. Instead, it points to persistent deficiencies in surveillance, case detection, and access to medical care.
"Normally, as an outbreak progresses, the case fatality rate should fall as contact tracing improves and patients are identified and treated sooner," said Thomas Parisch, a public health expert recently deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo with Doctors Without Borders.
"Instead, we still see many cases detected very late, when treatment is less likely to be successful, and many are only identified after they die in the community."
A small number of experimental vaccines and therapies are being evaluated as global health authorities assess whether existing Ebola treatments can offer protection. The evidence, to date, is limited to animal studies.
The outbreak previously spread to neighboring Uganda, but local authorities managed to limit deaths to two and confirmed cases to 20 before declaring an end to the outbreak in that country last month.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids from infected people, living or dead. It can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhea and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.
