Amid mounting concern in central Africa, the latest World Health Organization update indicates the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is proving far less deadly so far than many previous epidemics in the country.
Since the outbreak was declared in the DRC in mid-May, the World Health Organization has recorded more than 1,000 suspected and confirmed Ebola cases in the central African nation.
In an update posted on X today — dated 24 May — the WHO said 10 deaths have been confirmed as caused by Ebola, with another 223 deaths suspected to be due to the virus.
The same update reported that one person has also been confirmed to have died of Ebola in neighbouring Uganda, where a further six infections have been confirmed.
Even with those figures, the UN health agency cautioned that the real extent of transmission is likely greater, warning the virus may have been circulating unnoticed for some time.
Without providing further detail, the WHO update said the case fatality rate among suspected cases currently stands at 24.6%, while the fatality rate among confirmed cases is 9.8%.
Those rates are notably below outcomes seen in the 16 prior Ebola outbreaks recorded in the DRC since the virus was first identified there in 1976.
Historically, most DRC outbreaks have involved the Zaire strain of Ebola, a variant that typically kills 60-90% of patients and is also the only strain for which vaccines are available.
Health officials have said the current outbreak is being driven by the less common Bundibugyo strain, for which no approved vaccines or treatments exist.
In the DRC’s two previous outbreaks linked to that strain — in 2007 and 2012 — case fatality rates were estimated at roughly 30% to 50%.
But Abdi Rahman Mahamud, the WHO....
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