Ebola in Congo, over 1,700 dead as WHO speeds up trials

The Ebola epidemic currently underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed 1,700 deaths. According to data from the Congolese government and the World Health Organization, the toll stands at 1,707 deaths out of 3,802 cases recorded since the epidemic was declared on May 15. The strain responsible, described as rare, is Bundibugyo.

The province of Ituri accounts for nearly 90 percent of cases reported so far, a figure that geographically concentrates the emergency in a limited area of the country. Health authorities are monitoring more than 17,000 contacts of infected people, of whom about 80 percent are being followed up daily, again according to data released by WHO.

One element that distinguishes this epidemic from previous ones concerns the speed of spread: according to available data, the contagion would have spread faster than any previous Ebola epidemic on record. It should be noted that this information, like the entire set of figures reported, currently comes from a single source — the joint data from the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the World Health Organization — with no independent confirmations available at the time of publication.

On the health response front, WHO has accelerated the launch of vaccine and treatment trials. Vasee Moorthy, the organization’s head of vaccine research, commented as follows on the timing compared with previous epidemics:

we were able to start the trials more quickly — Vasee Moorthy, WHO head of vaccine research

Moorthy’s statement points to a change in response capacity compared with other Ebola epidemics, though the available dossier does not specify which treatments or vaccines are the subject of the ongoing trials nor what preliminary results have already been gathered.

The combination of a high fatality rate — over 1,700 deaths out of fewer than 3,900 recorded cases — and a spread rate higher than previous epidemics places the Congolese epidemic among the most severe ever recorded for this disease. The monitoring of more than 17,000 contacts, with a daily tracking rate of 80 percent, currently represents the main tool with which health authorities are seeking to contain the spread of the contagion in the province of Ituri.