DR Congo’s Ebola outbreak spreads to two new health zones, WHO says

Health workers struggle as new Ebola cases are found in border regions of South Ubangi and Haut-Uele.

A worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) handles sanitary basins at an Ebola treatment centre in Butembo, North Kivu province, in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo [Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/Reuters]

The Ebola virus caused by the Bundibugyo strain has spread to two new health zones in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

New cases were found in Bulu in South Ubangi governorate on the border with the Central African Republic and Dungu in Haut-Uele province on the border with South Sudan, the WHO said on Friday.

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The additional cases bring the number of health zones affected to 63 across seven provinces as authorities struggle to control the outbreak .

As of September 23, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, has reported 7,890 confirmed cases and 3,799 deaths, according to the WHO. That means that almost half the people who contracted the infection have died.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said conflict and population displacement were making it more difficult for health workers to reach ‌‌affected communities and trace people who may have been exposed to the virus.

“It’s very difficult to see Ebola in isolation because even our response to Ebola is affected by the conflict, because there is displacement and there is an access problem to some areas,” Tedros said.

The Bundibugyo strain is difficult to treat because there are no approved vaccines, Tedros said, adding that the WHO is accelerating clinical trials of vaccines and treatments.

Meanwhile, health workers looking for people who may have been exposed to the Bundibugyo strain are falling short of their targets.

According to Dr Jean Kaseya, the director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the more than 7,000 confirmed cases should translate to about 420,000 contacts.

“But currently, we have just 30,000 people in the contact list,” Kaseya said.

“When the outbreak is at community level, we cannot talk about control,” he added.

Ituri province in northeastern DRC continues to be the epicentre of the outbreak, accounting for 6,032 confirmed cases since the start of the epidemic in May, including 868 new confirmed cases reported in the last 21 days.

North Kivu is the second most affected province, with 1,480 new cases, including 567 reported in the last 21 days. The province now accounts for around a third of newly confirmed cases and deaths, the WHO said in a report on Sunday.

Nearly 60 percent of people diagnosed in North Kivu died, significantly higher than the national average of 48 percent, the data show.

Medical staff say patients are avoiding health facilities until it is too late.

“Patients think that if they arrive at the hospital, they will be immediately sent to the treatment centre to die,” said Dr Michel Paluku Mukuloli, who works at a hospital in North Kivu’s Butembo.

That complicates efforts to identify cases and start treatment before the disease reaches its most dangerous stages.

North Kivu was the epicentre of three previous Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2018-2020, which until this year was the DRC’s largest and deadliest. Those outbreaks, however, were caused by a different type of Ebola virus, known as the Zaire strain.

Much less is known about the Bundibugyo strain. But responders say in the early stages of infection, patients often experience milder symptoms easily mistaken for more common diseases such as malaria and typhoid fever.

南乌班吉和上乌埃莱边境地区发现新的埃博拉病例，卫生工作者面临严峻挑战。

在刚果民主共和国东北部北基伍省布滕博市的一个埃博拉治疗中心，一名身穿个人防护装备 (PPE) 的工作人员正在处理卫生盆。[Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/路透社]

世界卫生组织（世卫组织）表示，由邦迪布焦毒株引起的埃博拉病毒已蔓延至刚果民主共和国的两个新的卫生区。

世界卫生组织周五表示，在与中非共和国接壤的南乌班吉省布卢镇和与南苏丹接壤的上乌埃莱省敦古镇发现了新的病例。

世界卫生组织总干事警告称，刚果民主共和国的埃博拉疫情远未结束（列表1/3）。

刚果民主共和国为医护人员接种埃博拉疫苗，死亡人数持续上升（列表2/3）

刚果民主共和国开始为一线医护人员进行埃博拉疫苗接种试验（共3条，此为第3条）

新增病例使受影响的卫生区数量达到 63 个，遍及七个省份，当局正努力控制疫情爆发。

据世界卫生组织统计，截至9月23日，刚果民主共和国（简称刚果（金））已报告7890例确诊病例和3799例死亡病例。这意味着近一半的感染者已经死亡。

世界卫生组织总干事谭德塞表示，冲突和人口流离失所使卫生工作者更难接触到受影响的社区，并追踪可能接触过病毒的人。

“很难孤立地看待埃博拉疫情，因为即使是我们对埃博拉疫情的应对也受到了冲突的影响，因为存在流离失所的情况，而且进入某些地区也存在问题，”谭德塞说。

谭德塞表示，由于目前尚无获批疫苗，邦迪布焦毒株难以治疗。他还补充说，世卫组织正在加快疫苗和治疗方法的临床试验。

与此同时，寻找可能接触过 Bundibugyo 毒株的人员的卫生工作者未能完成他们的目标。

据非洲疾病控制和预防中心（非洲疾控中心）主任让·卡塞亚博士称，超过7000例确诊病例应该意味着约有420000名密切接触者。

“但目前我们的联系人名单上只有 3 万人，”卡塞亚说。

“当疫情在社区层面爆发时，我们就无法谈论控制了，”他补充道。

刚果民主共和国东北部的伊图里省仍然是疫情的中心，自 5 月份疫情爆发以来，已确诊 6032 例病例，其中过去 21 天报告了 868 例新增确诊病例。

北基伍省是受疫情影响第二严重的省份，新增病例1480例，其中567例是在过去21天内报告的。世界卫生组织周日发布的一份报告称，该省目前约占新​​增确诊病例和死亡病例总数的三分之一。

数据显示，北基伍省确诊病例的死亡率接近 60%，远高于全国平均水平 48%。

医务人员表示，患者往往等到为时已晚才去就医。

“病人认为，如果他们到了医院，就会立即被送到治疗中心等死，”在北基伍省布滕博市一家医院工作的米歇尔·帕卢库·穆库洛利医生说。

这使得在疾病发展到最危险的阶段之前发现病例并开始治疗变得更加复杂。

北基伍省曾是此前三次埃博拉疫情的中心，其中包括2018年至2020年的那次疫情，直到今年，那次疫情都是刚果民主共和国规模最大、死亡人数最多的疫情。然而，这些疫情是由另一种埃博拉病毒引起的，即扎伊尔毒株。

人们对邦迪布焦毒株的了解甚少。但急救人员表示，在感染初期，患者通常会出现较轻微的症状，很容易被误认为是疟疾和伤寒等更常见的疾病。