The ongoing Ebola outbreak in Congo is on track to eclipse the deadliest one in history, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated that at its current pace, it’s on track to surpass the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016, which killed over 11,000 people out of more than 28,000 cases.
Current Outbreak
The outbreak in eastern Congo has killed over 2,000 people out of more than 4,300 cases. The current outbreak was declared on May 15, but health authorities now say sequencing showed it began months earlier, in February. The rare Bundibugyo virus responsible for the outbreak has no approved vaccines or treatments.
Experts say the outbreak is moving faster than efforts to track and manage it in a remote part of eastern Congo facing ongoing conflict, near the borders with South Sudan, Uganda, and Rwanda. Most of the new cases and deaths are still being reported in communities outside the reach of health workers.
Original reporting: Alexandria, VA News – WTOP News — read the source article.
