By: Isuru Parakrama
August 13, World (LNW): The Ebola epidemic sweeping parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is accelerating at a pace that could make it the deadliest outbreak of the disease ever recorded, the World Health Organisation has warned.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the outbreak was currently advancing quickly enough to overtake the West African epidemic of 2014–2016, which claimed more than 11,000 lives. More than 4,300 cases and over 2,000 deaths have already been reported in the latest outbreak.
Although authorities formally announced the outbreak in May, investigations indicate that the virus had been circulating for several months beforehand. WHO officials believe transmission began as early as February, with some early infections apparently mistaken for malaria or typhoid.
The situation is particularly difficult in eastern Congo, where insecurity and limited access to affected communities are hampering efforts to identify patients and trace their contacts. WHO Africa chief Mohamed Janabi said the public health response was struggling to keep pace with the virus, with health teams reportedly able to reach only a fraction of those infected.
Unlike several previous Ebola epidemics, the current outbreak is being driven by the comparatively uncommon Bundibugyo virus. The strain has been responsible for only two previously recognised outbreaks, in 2007 and 2012, and there is currently no approved vaccine specifically licensed for its prevention and no established treatment targeting the strain.
Health authorities are nevertheless accelerating efforts to develop medical countermeasures. Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has authorised human testing of a candidate vaccine developed by researchers at the University of Oxford. The vaccine uses technology related to the platform employed in the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
Other research teams are also working on vaccines against Bundibugyo virus, while the WHO is backing a separate clinical study in the DRC examining whether existing antiviral medicines could improve survival among patients.
The organisation has set an ambitious goal of bringing transmission under control within three months, while stressing that this would not necessarily mean the epidemic itself had ended.
Ebola can initially resemble more common illnesses, with symptoms such as fever, headache, weakness and fatigue appearing between two and 21 days after infection. Severe disease can subsequently cause vomiting, diarrhoea and organ failure. Transmission occurs through direct contact with infected bodily fluids.
With the outbreak continuing to spread amid conflict, misinformation and limited access to healthcare, international health agencies face a race against time to expand surveillance, identify cases earlier and prevent further community transmission.