At least 87 people have died in the Democratic Republic of the Congo following an outbreak of a rare strain of Ebola for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment, raising concerns over a wider health crisis in a conflict-hit region.
According to African health authorities, symptoms were first detected in a patient on April 24, but the outbreak went unnoticed for nearly four weeks, allowing the virus to spread rapidly within local communities.
Jean Kaseya, Director General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said during an online briefing that around 336 suspected cases have been reported so far, most of them in the Mongbwalu and Ramba health zones in Ituri province near the Ugandan border.
Additional suspected infections have also been identified in the regional capital, Bunia.
Health officials confirmed that only four of the deaths have so far been laboratory-confirmed among positive Ebola cases, while investigations continue into the remaining fatalities.
Tests conducted by the National Institute of Biomedical Research confirmed the outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a rare variant previously recorded only twice before, in Uganda in 2007 and eastern Congo in 2012.
The current outbreak has already surpassed the total number of deaths and suspected infections reported in both previous outbreaks combined.
Kaseya warned that the affected area remains one of Africa’s most vulnerable disease hotspots, saying the region accounts for more than 70 percent of disease outbreaks across the continent.
He also called on international partners to provide urgent support to countries considered at high risk as authorities work to contain the spread of the virus.
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