On a Tuesday in Gwaka, a small town in northwestern Congo, a 23-year-old man died after a fever and vomiting blood, and the traces later found in his samples confirmed a rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. His death carried the disease into Sud-Ubangi, the seventh Congolese province touched by an outbreak that began in the east and has now reached the west for the first time. It is the kind of quiet crossing that reveals how far a sickness can travel while people keep moving through roads, borders and crowded camps, and it arrives as the world's health authorities warn that this epidemic may soon
Ebola Outbreak in Congo Spreads to Seventh Province, Reaching Western Congo for First Time
At least 3,349 people have died and 6,942 cases have been reported, including a 23-year-old man in Sud-Ubangi who died after showing fever and vomiting blood.
The outbreak has jumped, not crept, into western Congo.
Mark
Why does a single case in Sud-Ubangi matter so much?
Mimi
It's the first in western Congo, and the province doesn't border any of the six eastern ones with confirmed cases. The outbreak has jumped, not crept.
Luke
Careful, though. The route comes from one lawmaker, Mbungani, not from health authorities. The governor's statement only confirmed the sample and the Bulu health district.
Mark
So the 23-year-old's travels are attributed, not verified?
Mimi
Right. Mbungani says he went from South Kivu to Rwanda, Uganda, Ituri, then across Tshopo, Mongala and Sud-Ubangi, all in about three weeks.
Luke
And the sample was taken after he died, so we know the result but not who else he met.
Mark
What about the national picture?
Mimi
6,942 cases and 3,349 deaths as of Wednesday, per government figures. WHO says it's out of control and may pass West Africa's 11,000-plus deaths.
Luke
"May pass" is a projection, not a finding. Ituri is improving while North Kivu and Haut-Uele are worsening.
Mark
And vaccines?
Mimi
Ervebo is being given to front-line workers, but it targets Zaire. Bundibugyo vaccines are still in trials.
Luke
So no licensed vaccine for this strain exists yet.
Der Puls
- A young man's death in Gwaka has pushed Ebola into a province that had seemed beyond its reach, raising alarm about a new front in the west.
- Officials describe the outbreak as out of control, with more than 6,900 cases and 3,349 deaths recorded and climbing.
- Health workers are being vaccinated with a shot made for a different Ebola strain, while trials for the Bundibugyo form are only beginning in several provinces.
- Insecurity, displacement camps, and a health workers' strike are slowing the response just as the virus moves across borders toward neighboring nations.
- Neighboring Central African Republic and South Sudan are on watch, and the coming weeks will reveal whether containment can hold.
On a Tuesday in Gwaka, a small town in northwestern Congo, a 23-year-old man died after a fever and vomiting blood, and the traces later found in his samples confirmed a rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. His death carried the disease into Sud-Ubangi, the seventh Congolese province touched by an outbreak that began in the east and has now reached the west for the first time. It is the kind of quiet crossing that reveals how far a sickness can travel while people keep moving through roads, borders and crowded camps, and it arrives as the world's health authorities warn that this epidemic may soon rival the deadliest one on record.
A 23-year-old man died on Tuesday in Gwaka, a town in Sud-Ubangi province in northwestern Congo. Before he died, doctors had been alerted to a feverish patient who was vomiting blood. Samples taken after his death were sent to Congo's national research institute, which found traces of the Bundibugyo virus, a rare form of Ebola behind the current outbreak. His death made Sud-Ubangi the seventh affected province and the first in the west of the country.
Local lawmaker and former health minister Jean-Jacques Mbungani later traced the man's journey. In about three weeks he had moved from South Kivu through Rwanda and Uganda, then into Ituri, the epicenter, and across the country through Tshopo and Mongala. "It worries me," Mbungani said. His province borders Congo-Brazzaville and the Central African Republic, and he fears regional spread.
The numbers are grim. Government figures as of Wednesday count 6,942 cases and 3,349 deaths. The World Health Organization calls the outbreak out of control and warns it may surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic, the deadliest on record. Cases have fallen in Ituri but risen sharply in North Kivu and Haut-Uele, where insecurity, displacement, a health workers' strike and heavy movement complicate every effort.
Vaccination has begun for front-line workers using Ervebo, which worked against the more common Zaire strain, while trials for a licensed Bundibugyo vaccine are under way in Tshopo, Haut-Uele and Bas-Uele, with Ituri next. The question now is whether the virus crosses into the Central African Republic or South Sudan, and whether the trials can grow amid the hardship on the ground.
A 23-year-old man died on Tuesday in Gwaka, a town in Sud-Ubangi province in northwestern Congo. Before he died, doctors and local authorities had been alerted to a patient with a fever who was vomiting blood. Samples were taken after his death and sent to Congo's national research institute, which found traces of the Bundibugyo virus, the rare form of Ebola behind the current outbreak.
The result makes Sud-Ubangi the seventh Congolese province affected, and the first in the west of the country. The provincial governor, Jean-Rene Galekwa Vundawe, issued a statement on Thursday that local media reported on Friday. It said the sample came from the Bulu health district and gave no other detail about the source of the infection.
More of the man's story comes from Jean-Jacques Mbungani, a local lawmaker and former health minister. He wrote on X on Thursday that the case was recorded in Gwaka, and told The Associated Press by phone on Friday what he knew of the patient's movements. In about three weeks, he said, the man left South Kivu province, where confirmed cases have been reported, then went to Rwanda and Uganda. He then went to Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, and from there crossed the country from northeast to northwest through Tshopo, Mongala and Sud-Ubangi.
"It worries me," Mbungani said. "Our province borders Congo-Brazzaville and the Central African Republic. We fear it may spread regionally." Sud-Ubangi does not border any of the six eastern provinces with previously confirmed cases: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele, Tshopo and Bas-Uele. A case was detected in Kinshasa in May in a person who had traveled from the east, but the capital, more than 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) from the epicenter, was not classified as an affected province.
The latest government figures, as of Wednesday, count 6,942 cases and 3,349 deaths. The World Health Organization has called the outbreak out of control and says it is on track to pass the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic, the deadliest on record, which killed more than 11,000 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record.
The pattern inside the east is shifting. In recent weeks new cases and deaths have fallen in Ituri but risen sharply in neighboring North Kivu and Haut-Uele. Aid efforts face insecurity, displacement, a health workers' strike and heavy population movement. Displacement sites, where people already live in precarious conditions, are of particular concern.
WHO warned last month that the virus could cross from Congo into the Central African Republic and South Sudan, both of which border affected provinces. Uganda, which reported 20 cases since May, declared itself free of Ebola in July.
On vaccines, Congo began inoculating health and other front-line workers last month with Ervebo, which worked in earlier outbreaks caused by the more common Zaire type of the virus. Clinical trials are under way to find a licensed vaccine for Bundibugyo. Placide Mbala Kingebeni, Africa CDC's director for research, clinical trials and innovation, said Thursday that the vaccination trials began in Tshopo, Haut-Uele and Bas-Uele, with Ituri set to start next week.
What to watch now is whether the virus shows up across the borders in the Central African Republic or South Sudan, and whether the trials can expand despite the conditions on the ground.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
It worries me. Our province borders Congo-Brazzaville and the Central African Republic. We fear it may spread regionally.— Jean-Jacques Mbungani, lawmaker and former health minister
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