A rapidly escalating Ebola outbreak in Central and East Africa has killed nearly 5,400 people and infected more than 10,000, making it the quickest-spreading epidemic of the disease ever documented, public health officials said Monday.
Data released by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 5,376 people have died from the hemorrhagic fever since the outbreak began earlier this year, Euronews reported. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has suffered the vast majority of the casualties, recording 5,372 deaths. Two fatalities have been confirmed in Kenya and two in Uganda.
Unlike the 2014 to 2016 West African epidemic that was caused by the Zaire strain, this outbreak is driven by the Bundibugyo virus. The rare pathogen carries a fatality rate above 50 percent and currently has no approved vaccine or dedicated cure, according to health agencies.
Struggles on the Front Lines
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s health ministry officially declared an outbreak in Ituri province on May 15, though genetic sequencing indicated the virus had circulated since February, according to The Guardian. The World Health Organization subsequently designated the surge as a public health emergency of international concern.
Efforts to contain the spread inside the Congo have faced intense hurdles, including local conflict, misinformation, unpaid salaries that triggered medical worker strikes, and severe shortages of personal protective gear. Health officials report that about 80 percent of newly identified cases are stemming from unknown sources of contact, while roughly half of all deaths have occurred among patients who never reached specialized care facilities, Scientific American reported.
Violence has also disrupted medical missions. Last month, assailants killed a nurse and severely hurt another health specialist during an emergency response mission, according to Scientific American.
Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa CDC, told The Guardian that the crisis resembles the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when international leaders underestimated the risk of transmission across borders.
“We want all countries to know that they are not safe if they don’t take appropriate measures,” Kaseya said.
Kaseya noted that although international donors pledged $3 billion to combat the spread, more than $2 billion of that assistance has not yet been delivered.
Cross-Border Spread and International Response
While the Congo remains the center of the emergency, the Bundibugyo virus has crossed borders into several other nations. Uganda recorded 20 infections before declaring the contagion contained in August, Euronews reported. Kenya confirmed its first nine cases and two deaths in October.
Nigeria also detected its first case in over a decade after a 42-year-old Swiss woman whose husband works at the embassy in Abuja tested positive following travel to Uganda. Outside the continent, only one confirmed case has been reported: a French doctor who contracted the virus in the Congo, underwent treatment, and recovered in July, according to the New York Post. An American citizen infected with the virus was also treated at a medical center in Berlin.
While federal officials assess the current danger of Ebola reaching the United States as low, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced tighter air travel rules taking effect Tuesday, the New York Post reported. Passengers on international flights landing in the U.S. will need to attest that they have not visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the preceding 21 days, matching the virus’s maximum incubation timeline.
Next Steps
African health ministers are scheduled to gather Wednesday to negotiate enhanced border screenings, while researchers press forward with emergency interventions. Scientists recently enrolled the first patient in a clinical trial known as Tumaini to evaluate whether the Ervebo vaccine, developed against the Zaire strain, offers protection against Bundibugyo, with initial trial data expected within three to six months.
