Ebola case detected in seventh DR Congo province

Case found in northwestern province of South-Ubangi bordering the Central African Republic and Congo-Brazzaville.

Medics attending to patients sanitise their hands as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in DRC [File: Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/Reuters]

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reached a seventh province bordering the Central African Republic and Congo-Brazzaville, according to local authorities.

The acting governor of the northwestern province of South-Ubangi, Jean-Rene Galekwa Vundawe, issued a statement on Friday saying Ebola was detected following laboratory analysis of a suspected case in the province.

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Jean-Jacques Muyembe, head of DRC’s National Institute for Biomedical Research in Kinshasa, confirmed that a man had tested positive for Ebola.

Until now, the Bundibugyo virus, the rare kind of Ebola that caused the current outbreak, had been in six provinces in the country’s east and northeast. Local transmission has not yet been confirmed in South-Ubangi, meaning it ⁠has not been added to ⁠the list of provinces officially affected by the epidemic.

The outbreak, DRC’s 17th, is already the deadliest and the biggest in the country’s history in terms of case numbers – a milestone reached in late July.

As of Wednesday, 6,942 cases and 3,349 deaths have been reported, according to the latest government figures, well above the 2,299 deaths recorded in DRC’s 2018-2020 outbreak of the Zaire Ebola virus, previously the country’s worst on record.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said the current outbreak remains out of control and is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak across West Africa, which killed more than 11,325 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Friday’s statement by the South-Ubangi governor’s office said a sample from a patient in the Bulu health district was tested by DRC’s national research institute, and laboratory results found the presence of the Bundibugyo virus.

The patient who died in South-Ubangi had developed symptoms in the capital of Tshopo province, Kisangani, where Ebola cases have been reported, after travelling through Rwanda, Uganda and Ituri province in northeastern DRC, Galekwa said. The patient then travelled by boat on the Congo River.

“The route taken both by the patient and by the boat exposes the populations” of the provinces of North-Ubangi, Tshopo and Mongala, Galekwa said.

“Thirty-eight people have been identified as having been in contact with the patient and have been placed in quarantine,” he said.

In recent weeks, new cases and deaths have declined in Ituri province, the outbreak’s epicentre, but risen sharply in neighbouring North Kivu and Upper-Uele.

The Bundibugyo variant of Ebola currently has no approved vaccines or treatments.

However, several treatments and vaccines are being tested.

The outbreak has spread rapidly since it was officially declared on May 15, as weak health infrastructure, the region’s remoteness, and ongoing conflict near DRC’s borders with South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda have hindered efforts to respond to cases.

该病例发现于与中非共和国和刚果（布）接壤的西北部南乌班吉省。

医护人员在照料病人时会进行手部消毒，援助机构正在加紧努力控制刚果民主共和国的埃博拉疫情。[图片：Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/路透社]

据当地政府称，刚果民主共和国（刚果（金））的埃博拉疫情已蔓延至与中非共和国和刚果（布）接壤的第七个省份。

西北部南乌班吉省代理省长让-雷内·加莱克瓦·冯达韦周五发表声明称，该省一例疑似病例经实验室分析后确诊为埃博拉病毒。

埃博拉疫情蔓延至刚果民主共和国两个新地区（共4个地区，此为第1个）；目前已有60个地区受到影响。

（共4条，此为第2条）刚果民主共和国确诊埃博拉病例超过6000例，死亡人数逼近3000人

刚果民主共和国：随着儿童返校，埃博拉疫情担忧加剧

世卫组织总干事警告称，必须加强埃博拉应对措施以遏制刚果民主共和国的疫情爆发（共4条，此为第4条）

刚果民主共和国金沙萨国家生物医学研究所所长让-雅克·穆耶姆贝证实，一名男子埃博拉病毒检测呈阳性。

此前，引发此次疫情的罕见埃博拉病毒——邦迪布焦病毒——已在肯尼亚东部和东北部的六个省份出现。南乌班吉省尚未确认出现本地传播，这意味着该省尚未被列入官方公布的疫情影响省份名单。

此次疫情是刚果民主共和国的第 17 次疫情，就病例数而言，已经是该国历史上最致命、规模最大的一次——病例数在 7 月下旬达到这一里程碑。

根据政府最新数据，截至周三，已报告6942例病例和3349例死亡，远远高于刚果民主共和国2018-2020年扎伊尔埃博拉病毒疫情中记录的2299例死亡，此前该疫情是该国记录中最严重的疫情。

世界卫生组织（世卫组织）表示，目前的疫情仍然失控，并且有可能超过 2014-2016 年西非埃博拉疫情的规模，那次疫情造成超过 11325 人死亡，主要发生在几内亚、利比里亚和塞拉利昂。

南乌班吉省省长办公室周五发表声明称，刚果民主共和国国家研究机构对布鲁卫生区一名患者的样本进行了检测，实验室结果发现其中存在邦迪布焦病毒。

加莱克瓦表示，在南乌班吉省死亡的这名患者在前往卢旺达、乌干达和刚果民主共和国东北部伊图里省旅行后，在曾报告过埃博拉病例的乔波省首府基桑加尼出现了症状。之后，该患者乘船沿刚果河旅行。

加莱克瓦说：“病人和船只所走的路线都暴露了北乌班吉省、乔波省和蒙加拉省的人口。”

他说：“目前已确认有38人与该患者有过接触，并已对他们进行隔离。”

最近几周，疫情中心伊图里省的新增病例和死亡人数有所下降，但邻近的北基伍省和上乌埃莱省的新增病例和死亡人数却急剧上升。

邦迪布焦变种埃博拉病毒目前尚无获批疫苗或治疗方法。

然而，目前正在测试几种治疗方法和疫苗。

自 5 月 15 日正式宣布疫情爆发以来，疫情迅速蔓延，薄弱的卫生基础设施、该地区的偏远位置以及刚果民主共和国与南苏丹、乌干达和卢旺达边境附近持续不断的冲突阻碍了应对疫情的努力。