Ebola, in one of its rarer forms, has now reached a region of Congo that had stayed clear of it until now. Sud-Ubangi, in the northwest and bordering the Central African Republic, has become the seventh province touched by an outbreak that has already counted nearly seven thousand cases and more than three thousand deaths. Health authorities call it the fastest-growing Ebola epidemic on record, and the question now hanging over the region is whether this western detection is a lone alarm or the first sign of a wider spread that the world's medicine has not yet learned to answer.
Ebola Spreads to Seventh Congo Province as Bundibugyo Outbreak Nears Record Scale
As of Wednesday, 6,942 cases and 3,349 deaths have been reported in the outbreak, according to Congolese government figures.
The jump west is a departure from the outbreak's earlier geography.
Mark
Why does a seventh province matter when the toll is already nearly 7,000 cases?
Mimi
Because of where it is. Sud-Ubangi is in the northwest and borders none of the six eastern provinces. It's the first western province affected, so the outbreak's footprint has changed.
Luke
Do we know how the virus got there? The statement said nothing about the source of the infection.
Mimi
No. Only that the sample came from the Bulu health district and tested positive for Bundibugyo.
Luke
So we know one confirmed sample. We don't know how many cases there are in Sud-Ubangi or whether transmission is ongoing.
Mark
And Kinshasa had a case in May. Why isn't it counted?
Mimi
The case was in a traveler from the east, and the capital was never classified as an affected province.
Mark
What about the vaccine?
Mimi
Ervebo is being given to front-line workers, but it worked against Zaire Ebola, a different type. Trials for a Bundibugyo vaccine are still underway.
Luke
Also, the claim that it will surpass West Africa is the WHO's projection, not a fact yet. The confirmed numbers are the government's: 6,942 cases and 3,349 deaths as of Wednesday.
Mimi
Right, and the West Africa epidemic killed more than 11,000, so the gap is still real.
Der Puls
- A single lab-confirmed Bundibugyo sample in Sud-Ubangi has pushed the outbreak into Congo's first western province, far from the eastern heartland.
- The WHO warns the outbreak is out of control, with thousands dead and a toll that may soon surpass West Africa's 2014-2016 epidemic.
- Cases are shifting unevenly: easing in Ituri while climbing sharply in North Kivu and Haut-Uele.
- Vaccination of front-line workers with Ervebo is underway, but that vaccine targets the Zaire strain, leaving a licensed Bundibugyo shot still in clinical trials.
- Health officials are watching the border with the Central African Republic and South Sudan for signs the virus has crossed into new countries.
Ebola, in one of its rarer forms, has now reached a region of Congo that had stayed clear of it until now. Sud-Ubangi, in the northwest and bordering the Central African Republic, has become the seventh province touched by an outbreak that has already counted nearly seven thousand cases and more than three thousand deaths. Health authorities call it the fastest-growing Ebola epidemic on record, and the question now hanging over the region is whether this western detection is a lone alarm or the first sign of a wider spread that the world's medicine has not yet learned to answer.
The news came first in a statement from the governor of Sud-Ubangi, Jean-Rene Galekwa Vundawe, who said that laboratory tests by Congo's national research institute had found the Bundibugyo virus in a sample from the Bulu health district. Local media carried it the next day. The statement offered no account of how the infection arrived.
The location is what unsettles people. Sud-Ubangi sits in the northwest and borders the Central African Republic, touching none of the six eastern provinces where the outbreak had been concentrated. It is the first affected province in the west. Kinshasa had seen a single case back in May, in a traveler from the east, but the capital was never counted as an affected province.
The numbers are grim. Government figures, current as of Wednesday, record 6,942 cases and 3,349 deaths. The WHO says the outbreak is out of control and may pass the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic, which killed more than 11,000 people. Inside the east, the picture is mixed: Ituri, the epicenter, is seeing fewer new infections, while North Kivu and Haut-Uele are seeing sharp rises.
The fear now reaches beyond Congo. The WHO has warned that the virus could spread into the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Uganda, which had recorded 20 cases, declared itself free of Ebola in July.
The gap in the response is stark. Vaccination of health workers has begun with Ervebo, which has worked against the more common Zaire strain but not Bundibugyo. Trials for a vaccine against this strain are still underway. What comes next depends on whether Sud-Ubangi is an isolated case or the start of sustained transmission in the west.
A statement issued on Thursday by the governor of Sud-Ubangi province, Jean-Rene Galekwa Vundawe, carried the news that Congo's Ebola outbreak had crossed into a seventh province. Laboratory tests by the country's national research institute, he said, found the Bundibugyo virus in a sample. Local media outlets reported the statement on Friday.
Bundibugyo is the rare form of Ebola behind the current outbreak, which is concentrated in eastern Congo and which the World Health Organization describes as the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. The sample came from the Bulu health district in Sud-Ubangi. The statement did not disclose anything else about the source of the infection.
The location matters. Sud-Ubangi lies in the northwest, making it the first affected province in western Congo. It borders the Central African Republic, and it does not border any of the six provinces where confirmed cases had already been reported: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele, Tshopo and Bas-Uele. The jump west is a departure from the outbreak's earlier geography.
The capital has been touched before, though it was never counted as an affected province. In May, a case was detected in Kinshasa in a person who had traveled from eastern Congo.
The latest government figures, current as of Wednesday, count 6,942 cases and 3,349 deaths. The WHO has said the outbreak remains out of control and is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic, the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, which killed more than 11,000 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The trend inside the east is uneven. In recent weeks, new cases and deaths have declined in Ituri, the epicenter, but risen sharply in the neighboring provinces of North Kivu and Haut-Uele.
Beyond Congo's borders, the WHO warned last month that the virus could spread to 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.
The response has a gap built into it. Last month, Congo began vaccinating health workers and other front-line workers with the Ervebo vaccine. That vaccine proved effective in earlier outbreaks caused by the more common Zaire type of Ebola, not Bundibugyo. Clinical trials are underway to find a licensed vaccine for Bundibugyo.
What to watch now is whether Sud-Ubangi proves to be an isolated detection or the start of sustained transmission in the west, whether cases appear across the border in the Central African Republic or South Sudan, and how the trials progress.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Laboratory tests by the national research institute found the Bundibugyo virus in a sample from Sud-Ubangi.— Jean-Rene Galekwa Vundawe, governor of Sud-Ubangi (paraphrased)
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