Nairobi [DRC], June 19: The Ebola outbreak in Congo that's spread across parts of Africa has killed more than 200 people in its first month and is considered the worst known outbreak at this stage, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
Ebola cases have surged 38 % since last week, spreading across 32 health zones in eastern Congo. Health officials at Africa CDC said the current outbreak, with 894 confirmed cases so far, is three times worse than Uganda's previous Ebola outbreak in 2000, which had 281 confirmed cases at the same stage.
But contact tracing efforts have been hampered by the remoteness of the outbreak zones, funding and personnel shortages, as well as displacement, according to Dr. Wessam Mankoula, a medical epidemiologist at Africa CDC. Only 4,000 people so far have been identified and are being evaluated.
Africa CDC said only 74 patients have recovered from the disease so far.
He expressed concern over the declining number of contacts being monitored, noting that only 4,112 individuals are currently under follow-up, compared with an estimated 35,000 people believed to have been exposed to infected patients. He stressed that health authorities remain far from bringing the situation under control.
Source: Emirates News Agency