Why it matters
- The third largest Ebola outbreak on record.
- Most new infections come from unknown transmission chains.
- The virus has spread beyond the area of origin of the epidemic.
- Early detection and global support are essential.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva after returning from Bunia, in DRC’s eastern Ituri province, the heart of the outbreak, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said that with almost 2,000 confirmed cases and more than 700 deaths in five provinces as of July 11, the current outbreak is the third largest on record.
“We have seen the fastest growth in a single month since the outbreak began and of any Ebola outbreak we have managed,” he said.
“Over the past few days, we have recorded one of the highest numbers of new infections in a single day,” added Dr Ihekweazu, with more than 80 cases confirmed in 24 hours.
Known unknowns
Most of the newly reported deaths involve people who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility or receiving care – which the WHO official described as “the most alarming finding”.
Despite advances in diagnosis and high rates of contact tracing, “80 percent of new cases are not on our contact lists and therefore come from unknown chains of transmission,” Dr Ihekweazu warned.
The current outbreak was declared two months ago almost to the day and WHO modeling indicates its scale could be “at least two to four times” the number of reported cases.
“You have to imagine it’s a fire,” Dr Ihekweazu said. “There is something that fuels the fire at its core, and it also expands at the same time.”
While up to 95 percent of all new Ebola cases come from Ituri province, where the outbreak began, the virus has very recently spread to two new provinces, Haut-Uele and Tshopo.
The WHO official presented a two-pronged response strategy: continuing to act at the heart of the epidemic in Ituri and, at the same time, “understanding the travel routes… and really determining where the risks of new cases appearing” are.
Urging the international community not to be “disheartened” by the rapid spread of the disease, the WHO official insisted that the work was paying off.
“Now is not the time to drop the ball,” he warned.
Therapeutic trials in progress
Several therapeutic products are in clinical trials, but there is not yet an approved treatment for patients with the Bundibugyo species of Ebola virus. Yet the chances of survival increase significantly with early supportive care.
“We need to detect cases earlier and treat them as early as possible” to reduce transmission in the community and avoid falling behind, Dr. Ihekweazu said.
Asked about recent attacks on health staff and facilities, he explained that the solution lies in “openness and transparency” about the care provided.
“Before a new center opens, we invite community leaders to see what is being done” and to speak with health care providers who have left their homes to support the response, he said.
Preventing attacks on health care requires building community confidence in new facilities and showing people that “They will not be left alone – they will not only be cared for, they will be offered food, they will have access to their families“.
As the fight continues to stop the spread of Ebola in the DRC, Dr. Ihekweazu spoke of “dissonance between the threats we face and the efforts we are making to respond to them.”
“We need the world to come together, not just out of charity or support for the DRC, but in our own enlightened self-interest. The more we do now, the better off we will be in the future,” he stressed.
The WHO official mentioned that at WHO headquarters in Geneva, member states were negotiating the key part of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, the Annex on Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS), which aims to ensure that genetic information on dangerous pathogens with pandemic potential is quickly shared and that vaccines and treatments are made available to developing countries.
