Africa Ebola Outbreak Passes 10,000 Cases, Mostly In DR Congo

Africa’s latest outbreak of Ebola has passed 10,000 confirmed cases, the vast majority of them in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congolese health authorities said on Tuesday.

According to the DRC’s figures, 10,060 people have been infected and 4,887 have died since the virus was first detected in May in the vast central African country’s deadliest outbreak in its history.

Cases have likewise been detected in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, with the World Health Organization warning that Africa faces a “complex” task to contain an outbreak spanning the east, west and centre of the continent.

Among the many challenges facing the response is the lack of any approved vaccines or treatments for the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola behind the epidemic.

After recording a total of 20 cases and two deaths, neighbouring Uganda was declared Ebola-free by the WHO in late August.

Kenya, which had not reported a single case of the contagious virus until October 6, has likewise suffered two deaths from the virus.

The only case so far confirmed in Nigeria, a Swiss woman who contracted the virus following a trip to Uganda with her husband, was evacuated back to the Alpine nation on Monday.

Fifty-three of the patient’s contacts have been identified by the Nigerian health authorities, in a bid to stop the virus spreading across Africa’s most populous nation.

Some experts are worried that the virus — caught through contact with bodily fluids — could have spread after the Swiss couple landed back in Nigeria on October 3.

The WHO said the patient developed symptoms on October 7, sought care in Abuja on October 11, then tested positive for Bundibugyo on October 20.