Medical charity calls Ebola situation in DR Congo ‘deeply alarming’

The current outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo has created a “deeply alarming” situation as well as anxiety among populations due to major constraints that hinder response, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said late Saturday.

The Bundibugyo strain of Ebola concentrated in the three eastern Congolese provinces-Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu.

In a statement, MSF said that unlike most previous Ebola disease outbreaks, the current one is particularly difficult to diagnose due to limited testing capacity.

The medical charity cited major constraints, including border and airport closures, which it said continue to delay the arrival of critical medical supplies, humanitarian aid, and specialized personnel.

This, it said, hinders outbreak response and isolates countries that urgently need international support.

“Two weeks after the declaration of the Ebola disease outbreak in Ituri Province, the situation is deeply alarming and a legitimate source of anxiety for communities and frontline health workers alike. Never before has an Ebola outbreak recorded so many cases so soon after its declaration,” said Alan Gonzalez, deputy director of operations at MSF.

The charity noted that the number of expert medical organizations responding on the ground is still far too limited, and the level of support being provided falls far short of what is needed.

The outbreak is unfolding in a context where medical needs are already acute, it said, warning of a real risk of a silent escalation of other critical health problems people face every day.

According to the latest situation update released Friday by the WHO, at least 134 confirmed cases of Ebola have been reported in the current outbreak in the Congo and Uganda.

Deaths from Ebola stand at 18 among the confirmed cases in the two countries.

Congolese health authorities indicate that new suspected cases continue to be registered, with a cumulative number of over 1,000 recorded since the outbreak was declared on May 15.

But according to the MSF, the reality currently is that nobody knows the true scale and severity of the latest outbreak because new suspected cases are being reported daily, yet hundreds of samples remain untested.

Health Minister Roger Kamba said Saturday that about 70% of people infected with the Ebola virus in Ituri, the epicenter of the outbreak, have recovered, while four new recoveries were reported on Sunday in the provincial capital Bunia.

ANEWS wp:paragraph