Symbolic imageCongo Ebola cases pass 4,000 as officials examine possible mutation
Africa CDC said on Thursday that confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo have passed 4,000 and that studies will check whether the Bundibugyo virus is mutating. Congolese teams are screening more than 300 passengers from a river boat intercepted near Kinshasa.
What happened
- Congo's health ministry counted 3,874 cases and 1,751 deaths by Monday; the national public health institute listed 3,973 cases and 1,801 deaths on 4 August.
- Declared in mid-May, the outbreak is centred on Ituri, nearly 90% of cases, and has reached Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu, Haut-Uele and Tshopo.
- Authorities stopped the boat at Maluku, 65km upstream from Kinshasa, on Wednesday, after the suspected Ebola death of a 32-year-old man in Mongala on 25 July.
- Africa CDC says teams trace only 10 contacts per patient instead of about 40; more than two-thirds of deaths occur outside treatment centres.
- Health workers in Ituri are on strike over unpaid wages, according to the Associated Press.
The view from outside
Daily Sabah, citing AP, alone reports Washington's additional $242 million for the response, taking US direct assistance past $512 million. The Telegraph writes of more than 200 passengers detained, where Reuters counts over 300 screened.
What could happen next
- Laboratory results for four symptomatic passengers were expected on Friday; officials give differing accounts of the dead man's route and where he was infected.
- WHO and Africa CDC have announced studies on a possible mutation; the Bundibugyo strain has no approved treatment or vaccine.
- Africa CDC plans door-to-door case searches, compassionate use of remdesivir and tests of whether the Ervebo vaccine should be offered in affected provinces.