Ebola has killed at least 131 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said health authorities, as the World Health Organisation voiced deep concern over the rapid spread of the outbreak.
WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Tuesday that the outbreak poses a growing threat because infections have been detected in urban centres including Goma in eastern DR Congo and Kampala in Uganda, as well as in the conflict-hit province of Ituri.
A daily bulletin published by health authorities put the toll at 131 deaths linked to the outbreak in eastern DR Congo. It also reported 516 suspected cases and 33 confirmed cases in the country, along with two confirmed cases in neighbouring Uganda.
Dr Tedros said the figures were likely to change as authorities expand surveillance, contact tracing and laboratory testing in affected areas.
“I’m deeply concerned about how quickly the epidemic is spreading and the number of people affected,” he told the World Health Assembly in Geneva.
Cases among healthcare workers have also heightened fears of transmission inside medical facilities, prompting the WHO to release $3.9 million in emergency funding to support the response.
The WHO’s emergency committee was due to meet later on Tuesday to assess the outbreak and consider whether additional measures are needed. The committee advises the WHO chief on public health emergencies.
The WHO declared the outbreak in the DR Congo and Uganda a global public health emergency on Sunday, warning of a growing risk of cross-border spread. The outbreak had not been classified as a pandemic.
The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a rare variant first identified in western Uganda in 2007. Symptoms are similar to other Ebola infections and include fever, vomiting, bleeding and organ failure.
There are no approved vaccines or specific antiviral treatments for Bundibugyo, raising concerns about containment compared with other Ebola strains for which experimental or licensed countermeasures exist.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids, contaminated objects or the bodies of victims during burial. Human infection is believed to begin through spillover from animal reservoirs in tropical forests, followed by sustained human-to-human transmission.
The crisis comes on the heels of a deadly outbreak of the rat-borne hantavirus that began on a cruise ship in the Atlantic, which has heightened concerns over overlapping disease threats.
Dr Tedros on Tuesday urged affected countries to keep a close watch on passengers and crew from the MV Hondius, the Dutch ship hit by the outbreak which has docked in Rotterdam.
The WHO chief said more hantavirus cases were expected as there was a lot of interaction between passengers before the infection was confirmed.
As of Tuesday, a total of 10 hantavirus cases had been reported, including three deaths, he said.
