The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak is doubling about every 20 days, Tom Fletcher, the United Nations’ Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said Aug. 14.
As of Aug. 17, the outbreak has 5,105 cases and 2,420 deaths, and authorities said the outbreak has not peaked. On Aug. 14, dedicated beds for suspected Ebola patients in North Kivu province were fully occupied, Bloomberg reported.
To keep up, aid groups need to double the number of teams conducting safe burials, triple treatment capacity, improve contact tracing and deploy more experienced managers, Mr. Fletcher said.
Here is what to know:
1. It is now the deadliest outbreak in Congo’s history, with transmission active across 54 health zones and six provinces. The outbreak has reached 2,000 deaths three times faster than the worst Ebola outbreak on record in 2014-2016, PBS reported.
2. On Aug. 17, the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision released 70,000 doses of Ervebo vaccine to Congo. Ervebo vaccine is licensed and recommended for use in Zaire Ebola outbreaks, WHO said. Of those doses, 20,000 are for a Phase 3 clinical trial to understand the vaccine’s impact on Bundibugyo virus, and 50,000 doses are for frontline and health workers. It is not known whether Ervebo may be protective against the Bundibugyo virus in humans, but early lab and animal data suggest it may provide some protection.
3. A Nature Medicine study analyzed the genetic makeup of virus samples from 22 patients in Congo and Uganda. It found the outbreak strain was genetically distinct from previous Bundibugyo viruses seen in 2007 and 2012. The report suggests that the virus began with a new animal-to-human transmission incident. Researchers have still not identified the original animal source.
4. The U.N. is dedicating an additional $30.5 million to the outbreak and deploying another 20 humanitarian staff. The World Food Programme is also expanding food assistance at Ebola treatment centers, Bloomberg reported.
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