Ebola epidemic in DRC: the active strain of the virus has no vaccine, no specific treatment and presents a very high fatality rate

The Africa CDC, the health agency of the African Union, has warned of a “high risk of spread” of the virus. The Ebola epidemic is suspected to be responsible for 80 deaths in the central African country.

The Minister of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) provided an update on the ongoing Ebola epidemic in the country on Saturday, May 16. According to him, the active strain of the virus “has no vaccine, no specific treatment” and presents “a very high mortality rate.”

“The Bundibugyo strain has no vaccine and no specific treatment,” emphasized Samuel-Roger Kamba at a press conference in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, adding that “with this strain, the mortality rate is very high, it can reach up to 50%.”

The epidemic is suspected to be responsible for 80 deaths in the vast central African country with over 100 million inhabitants, and another one in neighboring Uganda.

“Extremely worrying”

The epicenter of the epidemic is located in Ituri, a northeastern province of the DRC, bordering Uganda and South Sudan. This gold-rich region experiences daily intense population movements linked to mining activities. Furthermore, access to certain parts of the province, plagued by violence from a myriad of armed groups, is difficult for security reasons.

The Africa CDC, the health agency of the African Union (AU) based in Addis Ababa, had already warned on Friday morning of a “high risk of spread” of the virus.

“The number of cases and deaths we are seeing in such a short time, combined with the spread across multiple health zones and now beyond the border, is extremely worrying,” said Trish Newport, head of the emergency program at Doctors Without Borders, in a statement.