The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has infected more than 1,000 people and spread to a third displacement camp in the country’s east, where an 18-month-old girl has died from the disease, according to official reports.
Congo’s government said late Sunday that confirmed cases had reached 1,003, with 254 deaths recorded so far. The outbreak, declared more than a month ago, involves the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is currently no approved treatment or vaccine.
The rapid spread across three eastern provinces has raised alarm among African health experts, who have warned that the outbreak could eventually exceed the 2014–2016 West Africa epidemic, which killed more than 11,000 people.
The toddler was tested for Ebola on June 14 in the Hungbe displacement camp but died before the positive result was returned the following day, according to a Congolese health report seen by Reuters.
The report said the child had developed a fever more than a week earlier and was carried on foot to two separate health centres, where she was given antibiotics before finally being tested for Ebola.
At least 107 people were listed as contacts, including relatives, health workers and people from other displacement camps.
Dr Emmanuel Musingusi Bulemu, a health official in the surrounding Nizi zone, said authorities were struggling with a shortage of isolation facilities.
“We need to separate these patients from the community because they risk infecting others, but where can we put them?” he said.
Two confirmed cases have also been reported in Kpangba, another displacement camp in the same area, where families have fled years of fighting between armed groups, militias and the army.
At least 30 people have died at another displacement site in Bunia.
Children account for nearly one-fifth of confirmed cases so far, according to preliminary data from UNICEF.
A smaller number of cases have also been reported in neighbouring Uganda.