The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now the second-largest on record and among the fastest-spreading in history.
At least 3,553 confirmed cases have been reported since mid-May, according to July 31 data from the World Health Organization. The current outbreak has already surpassed total case counts from the last DRC outbreak that took nearly two years to resolve, running from August 2018 to June 2020. Only the 2014-16 West Africa Ebola outbreak, which ended with more than 28,600 cases and 11,325 deaths, remains larger.
The current outbreak’s death toll — 1,556 — is also five times higher than figures seen at this time period in previous outbreaks.
“I’m not in a position to tell you that we have total control of this outbreak today,” Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa CDC, said during a July 30 media briefing.
Contact tracing also remains a challenge for health officials. Each urban case is believed to generate roughly 40 potential contacts, putting the target list at 134,400 people, but only 17,558 have been identified, according to Dr. Kaseya. Of those identified contacts, only 13,853 are under daily monitoring — just 10% of the 134,400 target. More than 80% of new cases are surfacing outside the known contact list.
The case fatality rate for the outbreak, driven by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, is about 44%, according to Dr. Kaseya.
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