Government data revealed that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed the lives of 2,325 individuals, making it the most fatal in the nation’s history, surpassing the toll of the previous 2018-2020 outbreak.
The latest report from the D.R.C.’s public health institute indicated a total of 4,945 confirmed cases, with 101 new cases detected within the preceding 24 hours.
This outbreak, the 17th in the country, already holds the record for the highest number of cases, a milestone achieved in late July.
According to the most recent government figures, the death toll has exceeded the 2,299 fatalities recorded during the 2018-2020 outbreak in Congo, previously the worst in the country’s history.
The data also confirmed 4,945 confirmed cases of the virus.
The current outbreak, three months since its official declaration, is now second only to the West Africa Ebola outbreak of 2014-2016, which saw 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, as reported by the World Health Organization.
It took almost five months for the 2014-2016 outbreak to reach 1,000 deaths, while the current outbreak in Congo reached 2,000 deaths in less than three months.
No approved treatments
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments. The outbreak has been escalating since its declaration on May 15, hindered by deficient health infrastructure, community resistance, and instability, which impede efforts to identify and respond to cases.
The case fatality ratio, representing the proportion of deaths among confirmed cases, has risen from approximately 20% in early June to 46%, indicating that nearly one in every two confirmed cases now results in death, according to government data.
Experts suggest that this trend does not signify an increase in the virus’s lethality but rather highlights ongoing deficiencies in surveillance, case detection, and access to medical care.
“Normally, as an outbreak progresses, the case fatality ratio should decline as contact tracing improves and patients are identified and treated earlier,” noted Thomas Parisch, a public health specialist deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo with Médecins Sans Frontières.
Efforts are underway to evaluate a few experimental vaccines and therapies, while global health authorities explore the potential of existing Ebola treatments to provide protection, although current evidence is primarily based on animal studies.
The outbreak had previously spread to neighboring Uganda, where authorities successfully contained the deaths to two and confirmed cases to 20 before declaring an end to the outbreak in that country last month.
Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals, living or deceased, and can lead to symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.
