Ebola: The virus epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo intensifies: more than 3,600 cases and 1,500 deaths | WHO | Ituri

The focus is in Ituri, a northeastern province bordering South Sudan and Uganda, which concentrates about 90% of the cases, according to the WHO.

LOOK HERE: The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo becomes the second with the most cases in history

The virus is also present in four other provinces, including North Kivu and South Kivu, whose provincial capitals and part of the territory are controlled by the anti-government armed group M23, supported by Rwanda.

Ebola, which is transmitted by contact with body fluids and causes hemorrhagic fever, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa in the last 50 years.

The deadliest epidemic in the DRC killed almost 2,300 people out of a total of 3,500 patients registered between 2018 and 2020.

This time on July 30 they had already been confirmed 3,605 cases of Ebola in five provinces of the country, of which 1,587 fatalities, reported the Congolese authorities.

This represents a fatality rate of 44%, noted the WHO.

The seventeenth epidemic, declared on May 15, weeks late, is due to the Bundibugyo variant, for which until now there is no vaccine or treatment.

“It is now the most important Ebola epidemic ever recorded in the DRC”, indicates the WHO in a newsletter that confirms the data published the day before by the authorities Congolese.

The epidemic “is intensifying, with sustained transmission and a continuous increase in the number of reported cases and deaths”, reports the WHO.

The last week for which detailed figures are available recorded a record number of 567 cases and 296 deaths, “which demonstrates the exceptional rate of transmission”, he adds.

There continue to be infections among health personnel, with 151 confirmed cases, of which 44 fatal.

“Insecurity, population displacements, the mobility of inhabitants and cross-border movements” complicate operations of response and increase the risk of spread to new regions, warns the WHO.

MORE INFORMATION: The Democratic Republic of the Congo raises the death toll to 1,487 and confirmed cases of Ebola to 3,360

Uganda declared the end of the Ebola epidemic in its country on Tuesday, but the risk remains, according to the WHO.

A vaccine, which the WHO considers “promising”, will be developed by Hilleman Laboratories, based in Singapore.

Last week, a first volunteer received the first dose of another vaccine against Bundibugyo, developed by the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.

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