Africa’s latest Ebola outbreak has expanded across eight provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with more than 10,000 confirmed infections and nearly 4,900 deaths recorded since May, raising concerns over the spread of the virus across the continent.
Congolese health authorities said on Tuesday that 10,060 people had been infected and 4,887 had died in what has become the deadliest Ebola outbreak in the country’s history.
The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, has also been detected in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, prompting the World Health Organisation (WHO) to warn that containing the epidemic across eastern, western and central Africa would be a complex task.
According to the Congolese National Institute of Public Health, 2,684 people have recovered from the disease, while the fatality rate remains close to 50 per cent.
The absence of approved vaccines and treatments specifically for the Bundibugyo strain has further complicated efforts to contain the outbreak.
First detected in May in the northeastern province of Ituri, the epidemic has spread across large areas of northern and eastern DRC. Ituri and North Kivu, where armed conflict and limited public trust in government institutions have complicated public health interventions, account for most reported infections.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Director-General, Jean Kaseya, said the geographical spread of the outbreak had exceeded initial expectations.
He told AFP that genomic sequencing showed similarities between the virus identified in Kenya and Nigeria and samples from cases in Beni, in eastern DRC.
Kaseya said the outbreak had grown from three affected health zones in one province to more than 66 health zones across eight provinces, underscoring the scale of the containment challenge.
“We were not thinking that Nigeria could be an at risk country,” he said.
Kenya, which reported its first cases on October 6, has recorded nine infections and two deaths, most involving people who had recently travelled from the DRC.
Nigeria has confirmed one case involving a 42-year-old Swiss woman who developed symptoms after travelling to Uganda with her husband. She was evacuated to a hospital in Geneva on Monday.
The WHO said the woman, whose husband works for the Swiss embassy in Abuja, developed symptoms on October 7 and sought medical attention in the Nigerian capital on October 11. She tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain on October 20.
Nigerian health authorities have identified 53 contacts in efforts to prevent further transmission. Health experts have expressed concern that exposure may have occurred before the woman left Nigeria, following the couple’s return to the country on October 3.
However, a Ugandan government spokesperson rejected suggestions that she contracted the virus while in Uganda.
Beyond cross-border transmission, insecurity and resistance to public health interventions have emerged as major obstacles in the DRC.
The WHO reported that a nurse was killed and another health worker seriously wounded in Tshopo province on Saturday. According to Marcel Likolo, chief medical officer of the Bafwasende health district, local youths accused the victims of attempting to infect residents with tablets before attacking them.
The Ebola treatment centre where the incident occurred has since been closed, he said.
The outbreak has intensified efforts to explore possible protection against the Bundibugyo strain. Testing of the Ervebo vaccine, which has demonstrated effectiveness against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, began in recent weeks to assess whether it could also offer protection against the current variant.
Since Ebola was first identified about half a century ago, the disease has killed more than 15,000 people across Africa, according to the report.
The latest outbreak presents a significant public health challenge, with authorities working to trace contacts, strengthen surveillance and contain transmission amid insecurity, cross-border movement and limited treatment options.
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