DR Congo Ebola cases top 1,000 as outbreak still growing

The DRC Health Ministry said Sunday that the country has recorded 1,003 confirmed cases, including 254 deaths, since the outbreak was declared in mid-May.

Public health officials and experts said the outbreak has yet to show signs of peaking. The specific virus involved, gaps in case detection and contact tracing, and the complex security and humanitarian situation in eastern DRC have all made it difficult to determine when the outbreak will stabilize.

PEAK NOT YET IN SIGHT

The outbreak remains in a "growth phase" or "ascending phase," DRC Health Minister Roger Kamba said Thursday at a press briefing in Bunia, the capital of the eastern Ituri province and an epicenter of the outbreak.

Kamba said the rise in cases should not necessarily be seen as negative, as it also reflects expanded case-tracking and the identification of previously undetected cases in communities.

Kamba said the outbreak can only be declared as peaked when key indicators stabilize or fall, adding that response efforts must continue for now.

According to figures released by the health ministry on Sunday, 100 patients have recovered, while 365 patients are in isolation or hospitalized. The current contact-tracing rate stands at 58 percent, still far below the ministry's target of 95 percent.

"We are still in the middle of the outbreak. We can say we are in an ascending phase, an active phase," Dieudonne Mwamba Kazadi, head of the National Institute of Public Health, told Xinhua.

Kazadi said rising case numbers were straining Ebola treatment centers and that additional capacity must be prepared in advance to accommodate more suspected and confirmed cases.

Marie Roseline Belizaire, a WHO expert, said the increase in cases also shows that the epidemiological surveillance system is beginning to function and detect cases in the community, including living patients and community deaths.

Belizaire also warned that each Ebola-positive community death could represent "another chain of transmission that continues."

The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, for which there are currently no approved vaccines or licensed therapeutics. Kamba said the disease is clinically difficult to detect because many patients do not show bleeding symptoms commonly associated with Ebola. Early symptoms can resemble malaria or other common illnesses in the area, delaying diagnosis and treatment.

Kamba said patients have a better chance of recovery when they reach treatment centers early. Many, however, arrive after developing severe diarrhea and vomiting, when they are already significantly weakened.