2011 Death from Ebola in Congo

AFP – The Ebola outbreak has claimed 2,011 lives out of 4,381 confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the epidemic continues, according to the latest figures announced by Kinshasa on Tuesday.

The death toll from this new outbreak is approaching that of the previous outbreak between 2018 and 2020, which remains the deadliest in the DRC, claiming nearly 2,300 lives out of 3,500 recorded cases.

Ebola is a viral hemorrhagic fever transmitted through direct contact with contaminated body fluids. The seventeenth outbreak of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo was declared on May 15, following several deaths in Ituri province (northeast), making it the third-largest Ebola wave recorded to date.

There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the rare strain known as “Bundibugyo,” which is responsible for the current outbreak.

On Friday, World Health Organization experts recommended evaluating the Ervebo vaccine, the only approved vaccine against the Ebola virus, within the framework of a clinical trial.