Alarm over Ebola outbreak in Congo, about 300 infected people remain untraced

Health authorities in Africa have raised the alarm, as the whereabouts of nearly 300 people diagnosed with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are unknown.

According to the Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Jean Kaseya, the tally of those who have recovered, patients undergoing treatment and victims shows that 297 confirmed Ebola cases are no longer being traced.

“This is a source of concern for us. Where are these people?” Kaseya said.

He also stressed that 30% of new cases have been detected among known contacts of confirmed cases, which he said is a sign of the virus’s widespread transmission in the community.

At the same time, projections from the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, forecast that by mid-September the number of cases could reach around 8,210, while the death toll could rise to 1,420.

So far, 1,118 cases and 291 deaths have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In neighboring Uganda, meanwhile, 20 cases and two deaths have been reported.

The ongoing outbreak, linked to the Bundibugyo variant of the Ebola virus, is considered the largest ever recorded just five weeks after the epidemic was declared. By comparison, during the same period of the 2014–2016 West Africa epidemic, 239 cases and 160 deaths had been recorded, while over the course of that entire epidemic wave more than 28,000 people were infected and more than 11,000 died.

The latest epidemiological models show there is a 70% probability that the virus will spread to South Sudan in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, capacity at Ebola treatment centers is close to its maximum limit. According to Africa CDC, about 95% of beds are occupied, while authorities warn that the epidemic has not yet reached its peak.

In another development, France said on Wednesday that a doctor who had worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo tested positive for Ebola after returning to the country. The medical non-governmental organization ALIMA, his employer, said it is investigating how the infection may have occurred.