Alarm as Ebola spreads into new areas of DR Congo

Ebola has spread to new areas of north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including a crowded displacement camp, raising fears that the country’s near-month-long outbreak is entering a more dangerous phase and larger scale than previously thought.

The outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, is showing signs of local transmission in newly affected communities as response measures lag, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official warned on Friday.

Since the outbreak was declared on May 15, there have been 676 confirmed Ebola cases, including 136 deaths in the Ituri province – the centre of the outbreak – as well as North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, according to WHO figures. A total of 32 patients have recovered.

The United Nations agency reports a further 119 cases are suspected in the DRC, as the virus starts to spread to new areas.

Olivier le Polain, the WHO’s head of epidemiology and analytics, said that cases were being identified in new health zones within the three affected provinces on a near-daily basis.

“That reflects really the scale of this outbreak: a scale that is much bigger than what is being detected, and the high mobility of the population,” he said.

Much more needs to be done to contain the virus, the WHO said, with isolation bed capacity far below the anticipated need, based on how it is spreading.

No approved vaccines or treatments exist for the Bundibugyo species of the virus.