The toll from the Ebola virus disease epidemic has crossed the threshold of 200 confirmed deaths, a little more than a month after being declared in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Africa announced on Thursday CDC, the health agency of the African Union.
Laboratory tests confirmed that the virus had infected 875 people and killed 202 people in the DRC since the epidemic was declared there on May 15, a mortality rate of 23% according to figures communicated by the Africa CDC, based on reports from health authorities of the DRC.
In addition, 19 cases, including two fatalities, have been confirmed in neighboring Uganda, according to the Africa CDC.
The current epidemic of this highly contagious hemorrhagic fever is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, against which there is no vaccine or specific treatment.
The epicenter of this epidemic, the 17th in this country of more than 100 million inhabitants, is in Ituri, a province in the northeast of the DRC, difficult to access due to the poor state of the roads and the insecurity maintained by armed groups.
The head of emergency response at the Africa CDC, Wessam Mankoula, declared Thursday during a press conference that the health agency was "concerned" by the low detection of contact cases in the DRC, citing "security problems and accessibility to certain areas.
Several NGOs on site also said they were concerned about serious shortcomings in the organization of the health response.
The Africa CDC, on the other hand, affirmed on June 11 that the epidemic was "under control" in Uganda.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued an international health alert. She estimates that the risk to public health is very high in the DRC, high at the regional level and low at the global level.
Ebola, which is spread by close contact and bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.
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