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Ebola Virus Vaccine
At least 100 people have died from Ebola less than a month after authorities declared an outbreak of the disease in eastern Congo, authorities said. Attacks on health workers from angry residents, skepticism among some locals and armed conflict in hot spots continue to challenge efforts to stop the spread. Out of the 550 cases of the disease confirmed as of Sunday, there have been 101 deaths and 19 recoveries, according to the latest situation report late Monday. The number of cases though is believed to be higher because the outbreak was confirmed weeks late, and response has been challenging also because the virus has no approved vaccine or treatment. The latest Ebola disease outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which does not have an approved vaccine or treatment unlike the Zaire virus responsible for most of Congo's past 16 outbreaks of the disease.
At least 282 cases of Ebola disease have been confirmed in Congo's growing outbreak, the central African nation says, as more joyful stories from recovered medical workers emerge. One nurse spoke of his "indescribable joy" at beating the illness. The outbreak remains focused in eastern Ituri province, where 264 cases have been confirmed, the health ministry said. Congo has reported more than 1,000 suspected cases of the Bundibugyo virus, the species of Ebola that was confirmed weeks after the outbreak quietly began. There is no approved medicine to treat it, or vaccine. The disease outbreak has killed 42 people in Congo and one person in neighbouring Uganda, according to health authorities in both countries. The outbreak has spread to 22 health zones across three eastern provinces in Congo, government data shows, even as the World Health Organization has sought to highlight signs of progress, like new deliveries of supplies to deeply under-resourced health centres. Congo's health .
India has sent emergency pharmaceutical supplies to support efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in Congo, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. In a social media post, Ethiopia-headquartered Africa CDC said the consignment, donated by India, was received in Uganda by its Eastern Africa Regional Coordinating Centre. The supplies include essential diagnostics, therapeutics, infection prevention and control materials, and case management support, which will be deployed to affected communities in eastern DR Congo, it said. "Africa CDC welcomes the arrival of emergency pharmaceutical supplies generously donated by the Government and people of India to support the ongoing response to the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the DRC," the continental public health agency said. It thanked India for its "continued support and commitment to protecting lives and advancing health security across the continent". The Bundibugyo strain is one of the six known species
Every time Vanny Birungi, a volunteer with the Red Cross in eastern Congo, goes out to raise awareness about the latest Ebola outbreak as suspected cases near 1,000, she faces a double threat. One is the rare Bundibugyo type of Ebola, with no vaccine or treatment. The other is the anger and suspicion of residents who have pelted her with stones and verbal abuse in Bunia, a city at the heart of the outbreak. "We continue to tell them that the disease is out there. Some accept, and others don't," Birungi told The Associated Press on Monday as she and colleagues spoke with groups of people in a working-class neighborhood under the scorching sun. Aid workers are especially at risk in this volatile region where residents, like Birungi, have long been under threat of armed groups that have killed thousands of people and displaced many more in recent years. Trust is hard to find among the traumatised population that is wary of outsiders, even those trying desperately to contain the rapidl
Arson attacks on Ebola treatment centers in eastern Congo underscore the serious challenges authorities face -- including a backlash in local communities -- as they try to stem an outbreak of the infectious disease that has been declared a global health emergency. On Sunday, Congolese authorities said suspected cases have now passed 900 in the east of the country, mainly in Ituri Province, where the ongoing outbreak is centered. The burning last week of the centers in two towns at the heart of the outbreak exposed the anger in a region beset by violence linked to armed rebel groups, the displacement of a large number of people, the failure of local government and international aid cuts that experts say have stripped health facilities in vulnerable communities. "A devastating set of emergencies are converging," the Physicians for Human Rights nonprofit said. Here's a look at the longstanding crises in eastern Congo that have made it home to one of the world's worst humanitarian ...
The head of the World Health Organisation says the Ebola outbreak in Congo is "spreading rapidly" and now poses a "very high" risk at the national level. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom said Friday the UN health agency was revising upward to "very high" its assessment of the risk within Congo, which had previously been deemed as high. The risk remains high for regional spread and low at global levels, he told reporters. The WHO chief noted that 82 cases have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with seven confirmed deaths, "but we know the epidemic in DRC is much larger." He said there are now almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths. The situation in neighbouring Uganda is "stable" with two cases confirmed in people who had travelled from Congo, with one death.
At least 131 deaths and over 500 suspected cases have been reported in the ongoing Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, the Congolese health ministry said Tuesday as details emerged about the government's delayed response. Samuel Roger Kamba, the minister of public health, said: "513 suspected cases and 131 deaths have been recorded in the affected areas." "These are suspected deaths, and investigations are underway to determine which ones are actually linked to the disease." The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Sunday declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Health authorities say the current outbreak, first confirmed on Friday, is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare variant of the Ebola disease that has no approved therapeutics or vaccines. Although more than 20 Ebola outbreaks have taken place in Congo and Uganda, this is only the third time that the Bundibugyo virus has been detected. Cases have now been confirmed in Bunia, North Kivu's