Kinshasa, July 8 (IANS). The Ebola outbreak has worsened in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to a report by the Africa Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO). The confirmed death toll has exceeded 520 and the infection continues to spread in the eastern hotspot areas.
According to the report, as of July 5, there were 1,624 confirmed cases in the DRC, with 521 confirmed deaths. Due to this, the crude case fatality ratio (death rate) increased to 32.1 percent.
The three affected countries – DRC, Uganda and France – recorded a total of 1,645 confirmed cases and 523 confirmed deaths, and the overall confirmed case fatality ratio stood at 31.8 percent. According to the report, more than 12,400 contacts still needed follow-up.
The report said the outbreak in the DRC is “continuing to increase”. The main reasons behind this are the continued spread of infection in the hotspot health zones of Ituri and North Kivu provinces in eastern DRC, the increasing number of deaths in the community and the spread of infection to previously unaffected health zones.
The report warned that deaths occurring before patients could access treatment are the clearest indication that surveillance and referral systems are still lagging behind the spread of the infection. Of the 430 confirmed deaths investigated as of July 5, 397 (i.e. 92.3 percent) occurred in the community or before being admitted to a treatment facility.
Contact tracing has improved, but it is still below the level needed to rapidly stop infections. As of 5 July, 12,412 contacts were under follow-up in the DRC, of whom 9,624 (i.e. 77.5 percent) had been traced in the last 24 hours. Overall, only 32.4 percent of confirmed cases were detected through contact follow-up, suggesting that many infections were still occurring outside known contact lists.
There is also pressure on treatment capacity. There are approximately 700 treatment and isolation beds in more than 22 Ebola treatment centers and care facilities across the DRC. As of July 5, 646 patients were in isolation across the country and the official isolation occupancy was about 94.2 percent. The PARTNERS clinical trial, run in collaboration with WHO, officially began in the DRC on July 2, the report said. This is the first clinical trial specifically evaluating the treatment of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
In this trial, monoclonal antibody MBP134 and Remdesivir are being evaluated using separately and together.
There have been no new cases in Uganda in the last two weeks. As of 5 July, 20 confirmed cases were reported in the country, including two deaths. 16 patients had recovered and two were still hospitalized. The contacts of people being monitored in Uganda had completed the required 21-day monitoring period and no new linked cases were found.
In France, a patient with a lab-confirmed case reported to WHO on June 24 recovered and was discharged from hospital on July 4 after two consecutive negative lab tests. Five passengers who traveled on the same flight as the patient were placed in quarantine and showed no symptoms, Xinhua news agency reported.
The report described the public health risk in the DRC as “extremely high” and said persistent and widespread infections are increasing faster than current response capacity. It also warned that Uganda is still at high risk of imported infections due to the movement of people from eastern DRC, while the imported case in France highlights the need for continued surveillance, traveler awareness and cross-border preparedness.
–IANS
PIM/AS
