The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has spread to a sixth province after a man died in Bas-Uele following travel from Haut-Uele, Africa CDC director Jean Kaseya said. The outbreak has killed more than 2,100 people out of over 4,500 cases, reaching that toll almost three times faster than the 2014-16 west Africa outbreak, and WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says it is on pace to surpass that outbreak's roughly 11,000 deaths.
There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo strain driving this outbreak, though clinical trials of two potential treatments began last month in Ituri province, and two vaccines are being tested on people for the first time. Health authorities say 60-70% of new cases are appearing outside monitored contacts, and health workers at Ituri's Nizi treatment centre went on strike Thursday over three months of unpaid wages, temporarily closing the facility.
WHO officials say the outbreak, first declared on 15 May but now believed to have begun in February, could take six to twelve months to peak and resolve even under a coordinated response. Uganda has reported 20 cases in Kampala with no recent community transmission.
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