A new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has caused scores of deaths has a “very high lethality rate” and no vaccine nor specific treatment, the country’s health minister warned on Saturday.
“The Bundibugyo strain has no vaccine, no specific treatment. This strain has a very high lethality rate which can reach 50 per cent,” Samuel-Roger Kamba told a press briefing in Kinshasa.
Earlier on Saturday, ministry officials said the death toll had already reached 80, up from 65 initially reported the previous day. The strain has also claimed one life in neighbouring Uganda, officials said, that of a DRC national.
Tests showed the victim in Uganda was infected with the Bundibugyo strain, first identified in 2007. Vaccines are only available for the Zaire strain, which was identified in 1976 and has a higher fatality rate of 60 to 90 per cent.
African health officials confirmed the latest outbreak on Friday in Ituri province in northeastern DRC, bordering Uganda and South Sudan. According to Kamba, patient zero was a nurse who reported to a health facility in the provincial capital Bunia on April 24 with symptoms suggesting Ebola.
The officials warned of a high risk of spread, with significant cross-border population movements in the affected region adding to concerns. The country’s health ministry said the number of fatalities had risen to 80, with 246 suspected cases notified.
The World Health Organisation stated that there is concern about the scale of transmission in affected communities, as it prepared to airlift some five tonnes of material, including infection prevention gear, from Kinshasa.
Ebola, believed to have originated in bats, is a deadly viral disease spread through direct contact with bodily fluids. It can cause severe bleeding and organ failure. The incubation period can last up to 21 days. The previous outbreak in the DRC last August killed at least 34 people before being declared eradicated in December. Nearly 2,300 people died in the deadliest outbreak in the DRC between 2018 and 2020.
