LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is facing one of its deadliest Ebola outbreaks, with more than 2,000 people killed and 4,381 confirmed infections recorded so far.
Figures released by Congolese health authorities on Tuesday showed that 2,011 people have died from the disease, putting the current outbreak close to the country’s worst Ebola crisis.
The disease killed nearly 2,300 people between 2018 and 2020, and the current case fatality rate stands at 45.9 percent.
The latest outbreak, the 17th faced by the country was declared on May 15, beginning in northeastern Ituri province before spreading to other areas, including North Kivu.
The affected regions have struggled with insecurity, weak healthcare infrastructure, limited government presence, and shortage of vaccines targeting the Bundibugyo strain in circulation.
According to the Chief Executive of the Gavi global vaccine alliance, Sania Nishtar, the current outbreak is the largest in the DRC’s history. He warned that it “could well become the largest outbreak ever.”
Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba, however, said authorities had yet to reach the peak of the outbreak but expected the situation to improve within months.
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“We haven’t reached the peak yet. Within the next three months, we expect to have already brought the spread under control and to start seeing it decline,” Kamba said in an interview shared by his ministry on X social.
Also, insecurity caused by armed groups and growing mistrust among affected communities have made it difficult for health teams to identify and treat patients.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Mohamed Yakub Janabi, said many infected people were not reaching healthcare facilities.
“We are only seeing 30 percent (of infected people), where 70 percent of people are dying at home. This is why this Ebola is different,” Janabi told reporters.
Meanwhile, Congolese virologist Jean-Jacques Muyembe, who helped discover Ebola in 1976, criticized the response to the outbreak, describing it as “slow and ineffective.”
Muyembe also raised concerns about coordination among authorities, stating, “There is an internal problem at the level of the national coordination of the response. Everyone wanted to show they were doing something, even though nothing had actually been organized.”
Amid the rising death toll, WHO vaccine experts have recommended a full-scale human trial of Ervebo, the only approved Ebola vaccine currently available, to determine whether it can protect against the Bundibugyo strain driving the outbreak.
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Ervebo has already been shown to be safe and effective against the more common Zaire strain as early evidence from animal studies suggests it could also provide some protection against the Bundibugyo strain.
Reportedly, Gavi has 500,000 doses of Ervebo in its stockpile and has said doses would be made available for the planned trials, with some supplies already in the DRC.
Two potential vaccines specifically targeting the Bundibugyo strain are also undergoing early human clinical trials, while another candidate is still being developed.
Ebola spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids and can cause severe haemorrhagic fever. The disease has killed more than 15,000 people across Africa over the past five decades.
Ultimately, the scale of the current outbreak, coupled with insecurity and limited access to healthcare, has increased pressure on authorities and international health partners to contain transmission before the death toll rises further.
