As Ebola cases and deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continue to climb, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official is warning that the outbreak could be much larger than case counts indicate.<\/p>\n
Chikwe Ihekweazu, MBBS, MPH, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme,told Reuters<\/a> that 80% of new Ebola patients in Ituri province\u2014the epicenter of the outbreak\u2014are not on contact lists of existing patients. That suggests the outbreak, which is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, is largely spreading undetected.<\/p>\n Ihekweazu said estimates based on modeling and test-positivity rates indicate the number of cases could be two to four times higher than confirmed cases.<\/p>\n According to the daily Ebola update<\/a> from BNO News, DRC has 1,792 confirmed Ebola cases and 625 deaths. The case-fatality rate is 34%. Neighboring Uganda has 20 confirmed cases and two deaths.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue facing the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak ever on the continent,\u201d Wessam Mankoula, MBBS, MPH, an epidemiologist with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said yesterday in a press briefing<\/a>.<\/p>\n We continue facing the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak ever on the continent.<\/p>\n The outbreak is already the third-largest on record and could surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak and the 2018 North Kivu, DRC, outbreak at its current rate. Mankoula highlighted a chart showing that 1,596 cases were reported in the DRC in the first six weeks after the outbreak was declared in mid-May, compared with 994 in the first six weeks of the West Africa outbreak and 378 in the North Kivu outbreak.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, the virus is still ahead of our response,\u201d Mankoula said. \u201cIt\u2019s moving faster than we can deploy the resources to control the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n 32 DRC healthcare workers dead from Ebola<\/p>\n DRC is no stranger to Ebola, having experienced 16 outbreaks prior to the current one. But the challenges facing the response are numerous and include an ongoing conflict between the Congolese military and rebel groups, insufficient contact tracing, and community mistrust. On top of that, Ebola responders in the country\u2019s hardest-hit province went on strike this week<\/a> over unpaid benefits and poor working conditions.<\/p>\n Mankoula noted that 112 healthcare workers in DRC have gotten infected, and 32 have died. \u201cWe\u2019re still losing our healthcare workers in DRC,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n