Ebola outbreak in Africa 'likely far worse' than official figures suggest, IRC warns

The Ebola outbreak spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is "likely far worse" than official figures suggest, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) warned on Monday.

The New York-based aid organization said response efforts are struggling due to delayed detection and dangerously low levels of contact tracing.

Currently, there are more than 1,000 suspected cases and more than 200 suspected deaths in the DRC, according to Congo's Ministry of Health. So far, 282 cases and 42 deaths have been confirmed, the health ministry said.

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The IRC said Ebola may have been spreading undetected since before March and potentially as long as three months before the epidemic was confirmed in mid-May.

Rachel Howard, senior technical emergency health advisor at the IRC, said only about 20% of contacts are currently being traced, meaning that health authorities are struggling to identify and isolate new chains of transmission.

At least nine travel-related case have been confirmed in Uganda as well as one death, according to the country's health officials. The IRC is worried about cases spreading to more countries including Burundi or South Sudan, according to Howard.

"IRC teams warn that shortages of diagnostic cartridges and testing backlogs are slowing confirmation of cases, further obscuring the true spread of the outbreak," Howard said in a statement.