Concerns over outbreak as Ebola spreads to city in DR Congo

The Ebola outbreak in DR Congo has spread to a city, prompting fears of a worrying shift in the new outbreak in the north-west of the country.

Congo’s health minister said Ebola has now spread to the capital of the Equateur province.

Oly Ilunga said two suspected cases of hemorrhagic fever were reported in the Wangata health zones, which includes Mbandaka city, about 93 miles from Bikoro, the rural area where the outbreak began.

He said one sample proved positive for the deadly Ebola virus, bringing the number of confirmed Ebola cases in three health zones to three.

Mr Ilunga said the country is now entering an urban phase of the outbreak, with higher spread potential. He said epidemiologists are working to identify additional contacts to the 500 already identified.

A total of 44 cases have now been reported, including 23 deaths, the World Health Organisation reported. Among those are three confirmed, 20 probable and 21 suspected cases.

“We are entering a new phase of the Ebola outbreak that is now affecting three health zones, including an urban health zone,” Mr Ilunga said.

He added that he is worried because Mbandaka, a city of nearly 1.2 million people, is densely populated and at the crossroads of Equateur province.

Ebola is spread by contact with the bodily fluids of people exhibiting symptoms.

“Since the announcement of the alert in Mbandaka, our epidemiologists are working in the field with community relays to identify people who have been in contact with suspected cases,” he said.

He said the lists of those exposed to suspected Ebola cases would receive, for the first time in DR Congo, a new component of response to an Ebola outbreak: vaccinations. Health experts are already tracing 500 contacts, he said.

The World Health Organisation sent 5,400 doses of the experimental Ebola vaccine to DR Congo on Wednesday, according to the health minister. The WHO has said it will send thousands more in the coming days, as needed.

Before this announcement, all confirmed Ebola cases were reported in the Bikoro health zone, where health facilities are limited and affected areas are difficult to reach.

“This is a concerning development, but we now have better tools than ever before to combat Ebola,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “WHO and our partners are taking decisive action to stop further spread of the virus.”

The WHO said it has deployed 30 experts for surveillance in Mbandaka. The WHO is also working with Medecins Sans Frontieres and other organisations to stem the outbreak and treat Ebola patients in isolation wards.

The vaccine, from US-based pharmaceutical firm Merck, is unlicensed but has been shown to be highly effective against Ebola. It was tested in Guinea in 2015 during the outbreak that killed more than 11,300 people in West Africa from 2014 to 2016.

This is the ninth Ebola outbreak in DR Congo since 1976. While none has been connected to the one in West Africa, the experimental vaccine is thought to be effective against the Zaire strain of Ebola found in Congo.

The WHO said it will use the “ring vaccination” method. It involves vaccinating voluntary contacts, contacts of those contacts and health care and other front-line workers.