Rare Ebola Strain With No Vaccine Linked to 87 Congo Deaths
The first case developed symptoms on April 24, creating a four-week detection delay that enabled extensive uncontrolled community transmission, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya said in an online briefing Saturday. About 336 potential cases have been reported, mainly in Mongbwalu and Rwampara health zones in Ituri province near the Ugandan border, with additional possible infections in the provincial capital Bunia, Kaseya said. Four deaths have been confirmed among laboratory-positive cases.Laboratory testing by the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Kinshasa confirmed the outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain. The virus has caused only two previous known outbreaks: in Uganda in 2007 and eastern Congo in 2012. The deaths and suspected cases in this cluster have already exceeded those of the previous two outbreaks of this type combined.“Every single day this region is where we have more than 70% of disease outbreaks in Africa coming from,” Kaseya said. “This is why we need to cover the region, cover the continent, and I am calling upon partners” to support the countries most at risk.
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