The number of Ebola cases has increased nearly 40% since last week in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Thursday.
The Congo is ground zero for the raging Ebola outbreak, which stems from the rare Bundibugyo virus. The public health crisis is particularly affecting the eastern Congo and the neighboring country of Uganda.
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Ebola cases have surged 38% in the past week and are affecting 32 health zones across the eastern Congo, according to Africa CDC medical epidemiologist Wessam Mankoula.
The public health official said at least 894 Ebola cases have been confirmed so far since the outbreak was announced on May 15. In its first month, the latest Ebola outbreak is three times worse than Uganda’s previous outbreak in 2000. It’s believed the virus may have been circulating for weeks before the official declaration last month.
There are up to 35,000 people identified as potential contacts in relation to the virus, but only 4,000 contacts have been tracked and are being evaluated.
“For those 800 confirmed cases, we should have between 17,000 to 35,000 contacts that should be in our contact list,” Mankoula said. “We are still far from controlling the situation of this outbreak.”
Contact tracing has been hampered by remoteness of the outbreak zones, funding and personnel shortages, and displacement, the epidemiologist explained.
Only 74 patients have recovered from the contagious disease across the eastern Congo and Uganda so far.
Earlier this week, American missionary Peter Stafford returned to the United States after recovering from Ebola. He was treating patients in the Congo when he tested positive. Stafford has been free of the virus since May 30.
There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus yet, though monoclonal antibodies are being developed for it.
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More than $900 million has been pledged to combat the severe Ebola outbreak, but only about 10% of the money has been activated. The emergency funding has not translated to increased staff numbers yet. Africa CDC says it only has 84 personnel to fight the virus, far short of its preferred number of 540 personnel.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed those new pledges will be fast-tracked, and we’ll be following up with different member states and different partners about their commitment to turn those pledges into actual money released to their affected countries or partners,” Mankoula said.
