KINSHASA, Congo — The Ebola outbreak centered in Congo keeps widening, with confirmed cases now above 9,600 and the disease reaching an eighth Congolese province as well as a new country, Nigeria.
World Health Organization figures through Oct. 19 count 9,637 confirmed cases and 4,646 confirmed deaths since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, a death rate of about 48%. In a single week the agency logged 572 new cases and 265 more deaths. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus.
The newest Congolese province to report infections is Nord-Ubangi, on the border with the Central African Republic, where armed conflict keeps driving people from their homes. The outbreak now touches 66 health zones. Ituri remains the hardest-hit province, with 72.7% of all confirmed cases, while heavy spread continues in North Kivu and Haut-Uele.
Nigerian health authorities confirmed the country’s first case in a woman who had traveled from Uganda. She became sick on Oct. 7 and was admitted to a hospital two days after first visiting a clinic. Investigators are still tracing how she was exposed. Nigeria is the fifth country this year to confirm the Bundibugyo form of the disease, after Congo, France, Uganda and Kenya.
Kenya has recorded nine cases, including one death, linked to a Kenyan who had worked in Congo. Uganda had 20 confirmed cases and two deaths before declaring its outbreak over at the end of August. About six in 10 deaths in Congo have happened outside health facilities, a sign of how hard it has been to stop spread within communities.
Filed under: Greensboro NC Health News
