The World Health Organization has warned that the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s largest recorded Ebola outbreak is expanding faster than health authorities can contain it, as infections spread across five provinces.
Speaking in Geneva on Tuesday, Dr Vasee Moorthy, acting lead of the WHO’s Research and Development Blueprint, said the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak had exceeded the operational capacity of the current response.
“The outbreak is expanding beyond the capacity of the response to manage. It is now the largest the country has ever faced,” Moorthy told reporters.
The WHO called for urgent additional funding and resources to increase treatment capacity and deploy more field investigation teams, safe burial units and community health workers.
Moorthy said efforts must be strengthened both in areas where the virus is currently spreading and in locations considered at high risk of recording new infections.
As of August 1, health authorities had confirmed 3,748 cases and 1,657 deaths. A total of 708 patients had recovered.
Cases have been detected in 49 health zones across five provinces, while approximately 17,000 people identified as contacts are being monitored. More than 80% of those contacts are followed up each day, according to the WHO.
Moorthy said there are currently no treatments, vaccines or preventive medicines proven to be safe and effective specifically against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, although receiving supportive medical care at an early stage can significantly improve a patient’s chances of survival.
Clinical trials involving experimental treatments and a potential post-exposure preventive medicine are underway in DR Congo.
Two vaccine candidates designed specifically to target Bundibugyo Ebola have also entered Phase 1 clinical trials in the United Kingdom and Canada, Moorthy said.