Symbolic imageWHO dates Congo's Ebola outbreak to February, months before it was declared
The Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo began in February, three months before it was officially declared, the World Health Organization said on Monday. Genetic sequencing pointed to a long chain of undetected transmission.
The WHO's regional director for Africa, Mohamed Yakub Janabi, told a press conference that some cases early in the outbreak were wrongly attributed to malaria and typhoid, and that responders in the Democratic Republic of Congo are struggling to catch up. "So we are chasing the virus, the virus is ahead of us," Janabi said. Congo declared the outbreak on 15 May; according to the Associated Press it is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record.
A toll counted in the thousands
Government figures up to 6 August recorded 4,120 confirmed cases and 1,887 deaths, a fatality rate of 45.8 percent, with 721 people still in isolation or in hospital. The Associated Press cites later government data of 4,200 confirmed cases and more than 1,900 deaths.
A strain with no vaccine
Unlike most previous Ebola outbreaks, this one is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which no vaccines or treatments are approved.