“More recoveries are expected, especially when people are diagnosed early and able to access care and when the outbreak response intensifies“, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said in an update on Sunday.
A total of five people have recovered from the virus, the agency said, citing the case of a lab worker that was given the all-clear last Thursday.
The announcement is welcome news as the UN partners’ response ramps up to the outbreak of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus, particularly because there is no licensed vaccine or treatment, and which the WHO characterized as “a disease you get when you care about someone”.
As of Sunday, there were 210 confirmed cases of infection reported in the country, with 17 confirmed deaths. Nearly 350 suspected cases are under investigation and 16 health workers have contracted Ebola in the DRC during this latest outbreak.
Since the declaration of the Ebola outbreak on May 15, key response measures have included laboratory testing, disease surveillance, infection prevention and control, community engagement and resource mobilization.
In Bunia, the likely epicenter of the outbreak and the capital of Ituri province, WHO has handed over a renovated Ebola treatment center to health authorities. The facility has 24 beds with a total capacity of 60 beds. WHO is also creating an annex with up to 42 beds.
Getting on top of the outbreak has been complicated by the dire humanitarian situation in the DRC’s resource-rich far east, where decades of ongoing conflict have left 1.2 million people in need of aid in Ituri province alone. Transmission has been concentrated in Ituri and the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.
Treatments in the pipeline
Although there is no licensed vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo virus that causes Ebola, WHO advisory groups described several candidate treatments and vaccines as “promising enough” to warrant prioritization for evaluation in clinical trials.
WHO’s role is to work with the health authorities in the DRC and Uganda to make this happen.
For confirmed cases, three candidate therapies for treatment have been prioritized for clinical trials: monoclonal antibodies MBP 134 and maftivimaband the antiviral agent strap design.
For prevention, the oral antiviral obeldesivir prioritized within a clinical trial as a post-exposure measure for those who have been in contact with confirmed cases.
According to the WHO, two candidate vaccines have been identified for evaluation when doses become available.
Tedros’ call for solidarity
Meanwhile, the agency emphasized the key role that community engagement plays in stopping the transmission of the virus, which has a fatality rate of between 30 percent and 50 percent.
“Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus is survivable with good medical care and some people here in Ituri have already recovered. Seeking care early makes a real difference…It is not without hope,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking in Bunia at the weekend.
In an update on Friday, the WHO highlighted that the outbreak in both the DRC and neighboring Uganda was developing rapidly “with increasing case numbers, geographic spread and ongoing cross-border transmission”. An additional confirmed case of a person from the United States who had treated patients in the DRC is still receiving treatment in Germany.
