By A devastating surge of the Ebola virus has claimed over 5,300 lives across Africa, with the vast majority of fatalities concentrated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the DRC is currently facing its seventeenth and most severe outbreak since mid May. The crisis has seen a staggering infection rate, with roughly 10,444 people contracting the virus and a mortality rate exceeding fifty percent.
While the heart of the epidemic remains in the DRC, the Bundibugyo strain has proven capable of crossing international borders. Both Kenya and Uganda have reported casualties, including Kenya’s first ever recorded cases of the disease in October. In response to these movements, neighboring nations have tightened their security, with Uganda previously implementing strict twenty one day quarantines for citizens returning from affected regions in order to stem the tide of transmission.
Public health officials are racing to find an effective medical intervention, though they face a significant hurdle because there are currently no approved vaccines or treatments specifically designed for this particular strain. While clinicians have begun trials using the Ervebo vaccine, that medication was originally developed for the more common Zaire strain. Meanwhile, other countries remain on high alert; Nigeria recently conducted multiple rounds of testing on suspected cases in its northeast region, which fortunately returned negative results.
