Topline
Ebola cases and deaths have spiked in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the country confirming an outbreak of the deadly virus on Friday that has infected hundreds of people and killed dozens.
Key Facts
The outbreak’s death toll is 80 as of Friday, according to the World Health Organization, which said the rise in cases was focused in the Congo’s north-eastern Ituri Province.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a Friday statement there were around 246 suspected cases—a figure that is likely higher as of Saturday.
Only eight cases have been confirmed by laboratory testing.
The Africa CDC said it is “concerned” about further cases, citing “intense population movement” and “gaps in contact listing, infection prevention and control challenges.”
An Ebola case was also identified in the neighboring country of Uganda, where a man from the Congo died in a hospital.
Ebola can be transmitted from wild animals to people and is capable of human transmission via direct or indirect contact with bodily fluids like vomit, semen or blood.
Big Number
32%. That was the case fatality rate when Bundibugyo, the ebola strain at the center of the Congo’s current outbreak, was first identified in a 2007 outbreak that killed 42 people and infected 131. Roger Kamba, the Congo’s health minister, said the strain has a high death rate and does not have a vaccine or specific treatment, Agence France-Presse reported.
Crucial Quote
“It’s pretty stunning to have first notice of an outbreak in D.R.C., which is very experienced, and have it be so large,” Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, told The New York Times.
Key Background
The Congo’s rise in ebola cases marks the 17th outbreak of the illness in the country since it was first identified 50 years ago. The Congo’s last ebola outbreak lasted from September to December last year, when 64 cases were confirmed and 45 people died, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health experts have warned the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign health and aid programs could make responding to outbreaks in Africa more difficult for countries like the Congo and Uganda. Both countries are experienced in responding to the illness and in the past, have had support from the U.S. through vaccine deployment and disease surveillance measures.
