Home · Health · Nov 13 archive
DRC Ebola Outbreak Surpasses 11,000 Cases, 5,433 Deaths
· Confirmed
In Short: Health Policy Watch reports that the outbreak, which began on May 15, has seen 11,114 cases and 5,433 deaths, with a death rate of 48% in the DRC.
Health Policy Watch reports that the outbreak, which began on May 15, has seen 11,114 cases and 5,433 deaths, with a death rate of 48% in the DRC.
However, the IOM is short of nearly $60 million to cover a comprehensive Ebola response, including health screening and support at displacement sites and informal transit routes.
Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, WHO’s Assistant Director General, noted that around 60% of Ebola deaths were reported in communities, including private and traditional health facilities.
Abdelmoneim, a spokesperson for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), added that only 9% of Ebola patients treated in Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, had been identified as contacts by the surveillance system.
Earlier this week, the IOM reported detecting 71 people with Ebola by screening individuals on informal transit routes in the DRC that were not monitored by authorities.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) stated that despite progress in containing transmission within eastern DRC, about 400 to 500 cases of infection are still being identified every week.
The outbreak is the second largest in the world after the West Africa outbreak from 2014-2016.
Dr. Meg Moherty, WHO’s technical lead for vaccine trials, attended the TUMAINI launch in Bunia, stating that the same ring-vaccination approach used during the West Africa Ebola outbreak helped establish the efficacy of Ervebo.
Colombia’s Ministry of Health reported on May 29 that no cases had been detected in the country and that local impact remained unlikely.
Background
The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has surpassed 11,000, with at least 5,387 deaths, according to government data.
What's confirmed
- Health Policy Watch reports that the outbreak, which began on May 15, has seen 11,114 cases and 5,433 deaths, with a death rate of 48% in the DRC.
- However, the IOM is short of nearly $60 million to cover a comprehensive Ebola response, including health screening and support at displacement sites and informal transit routes.
- Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, WHO’s Assistant Director General, noted that around 60% of Ebola deaths were reported in communities, including private and traditional health facilities.
- Abdelmoneim, a spokesperson for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), added that only 9% of Ebola patients treated in Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, had been identified as contacts by the surveillance system.
- Earlier this week, the IOM reported detecting 71 people with Ebola by screening individuals on informal transit routes in the DRC that were not monitored by authorities.
- The UN World Health Organization (WHO) stated that despite progress in containing transmission within eastern DRC, about 400 to 500 cases of infection are still being identified every week.
- The outbreak is the second largest in the world after the West Africa outbreak from 2014-2016.
- Dr. Meg Moherty, WHO’s technical lead for vaccine trials, attended the TUMAINI launch in Bunia, stating that the same ring-vaccination approach used during the West Africa Ebola outbreak helped establish the efficacy of Ervebo.
- Colombia’s Ministry of Health reported on May 29 that no cases had been detected in the country and that local impact remained unlikely.
What's still developing
- The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to spread amid repeated and ongoing deadly attacks on civilians and frontline health workers by armed groups that are obstructing efforts to stop transmission, UN responders said on Friday.
- BRONX - The New York City Health Department has ordered 10 cooling towers in the South Bronx, including one at Yankee Stadium, to be cleaned and disinfected following an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the area, city health officials announced Sunday.
- “ Sustained efforts are essential to end the outbreak,” WHO said in a tweet.
- The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has surpassed 11,000 confirmed cases and claimed 5,387 lives, according to the country’s National Institute of Public Health (INSP).
- Pennsylvania will accept help from a “disease detective” sent by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to curb the worst measles outbreak in the country, the state’s top health official said Friday, while repeating a demand for federal acknowledgment of measles-associated deaths here.
- State officials said that about 300 health department staffers, including 60 “disease detectives,” have been responding to the measles outbreak in the state.
- Dozens of Ebola outbreaks have been documented since scientists first discovered the virus in 1976.
- Six months into Congo’s Ebola outbreak, many cases are likely being missed, transmission in hospitals in some areas is rife and the virus is still spreading out of control, Médecins Sans Frontières said on Thursday.
- For that reason, he said it was likely transmission would still be ongoing a year from now and the outbreak could outstrip the 2014-2016 West African outbreak — the biggest ever — which saw more than 28,600 cases and killed more than 11,000 people.
- “I was on gate 403” at the domestic terminal, the witness told AFP.
- Russian authorities have maintained that there is no active plague outbreak, stating that the situation does not represent a public health emergency and that individuals identified as contacts have tested negative.