Kinshasa, Sep 11 The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it is continuing its efforts to support the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in halting the spread of the Ebola virus, following the country’s declaration of an outbreak in Kasai Province.
Within 48 hours of the declaration on September 4, the WHO airlifted 12 tonnes of materials, including personal protective equipment, patient isolation materials, water, sanitation, and hygiene supplies to support clinical care and protect frontline health workers. More supplies are being shipped to the country to strengthen the response.
“The affected localities are hard to reach. We are working around the clock to rapidly roll out response measures to ensure robust outbreak control to stop the virus from spreading further and save lives,” Mohamed Janabi, WHO regional director for Africa, said in a statement.
On Sunday, teams of frontline responders were vaccinated against Ebola in Kinshasa, the DRC’s capital, ahead of their deployment in the field, thanks to a stockpile of vaccines that had been prepositioned with support from the WHO and partners.
The WHO is working with national authorities in 10 priority countries neighbouring the DRC to initiate readiness assessments and contingency planning, including in Tanzania, where disease surveillance is being enhanced in localities bordering the DRC to swiftly detect any cases and respond promptly to halt any further transmission of the virus. In Angola, the WHO is supporting the national authorities in stepping up preparedness, especially in Lunda Norte Province, which borders Kasai Province.
The latest Ebola outbreak in the DRC marks the country’s 16th since the virus was first identified in 1976. The WHO said the resurgence comes amid multiple health emergencies, including mpox, cholera, and measles, and assessed the overall public health risk as high nationally, moderate regionally, and low globally.
According to the WHO, the epicentre is near Tshikapa, the capital of Kasai Province, about 100 to 200 km from the Angolan border. The outbreak is currently affecting a remote rural district, though frequent population movements, particularly between Bulape and Tshikapa, heighten the risk of wider spread.
Epidemiological investigations are ongoing, with transmission chains and the source of infection yet to be identified. The onset date of the first case remains unclear, and undetected cases cannot be ruled out, the WHO warned.
Uganda, one of the countries bordering the DRC, said last Friday that it is on high alert following the latest outbreak. Henry Kyobe Bosa, incident commander at the Ugandan Ministry of Health, told Xinhua news agency by telephone that authorities are closely monitoring the situation and will conduct a risk assessment before developing measures to prevent possible importation of the virus.
The DRC last declared the end of an Ebola outbreak in September 2022, after one case was confirmed in the eastern province of North Kivu. Testing showed that the case was genetically linked to the 2018-2020 outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, which killed nearly 2,300 people.
Kasai Province previously reported Ebola outbreaks in 2007 and 2008, according to the WHO.
Ebola first occurred in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks: one was of Sudan virus disease in Nzara in what is now South Sudan, and the other was of Ebola virus disease in Yambuku, in what is now the DRC, then known as Zaire. The latter occurred in a village near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name, according to the WHO.
Ebola is a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever that causes a range of symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, generalised pain, or malaise, and in many cases, internal and external bleeding.
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