Ebola outbreak becomes deadliest in DR Congo’s history

The monthslong Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo officially made history as the country’s deadliest outbreak, with almost half the disease cases resulting in death. The DRC’s Communication Ministry on Monday confirmed nearly 5,000 cases since the outbreak began in May, with about 2,300 deaths.

DRC officials added that just over a thousand patients recovered after contracting the Bundibugyo virus that’s causing the recent outbreak of Ebola disease. Nearly three dozen patients were declared recovered within the past 24 hours, officials said Monday. The outbreak’s epicenter remained in the northeastern province of Ituri, along with several surrounding provinces. Contact tracing surpassed the operational threshold of 85%, while surveillance and case management continued.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus earlier reported that the outbreak was on pace to become the continent’s largest outbreak on record. West Africa’s 2014-2016 outbreak killed over 11,000 people.

Doctors Without Borders pushed for more media attention around the DRC’s other ongoing outbreaks aside from Ebola, including measles and cholera. Health workers identified nearly 109,000 suspected measles cases in eastern DRC since mid-July, and nearly 1,400 measles deaths, according to a Thursday statement. The humanitarian group also reported over 1,000 cholera deaths and more than 35,000 suspected cases.