DR Congo announces end of latest Ebola epidemic

AFP | The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) on Wednesday declared the end of its latest Ebola epidemic, closing the file on an outbreak in the northwestern province of Equateur that claimed 55 lives in nearly 6 months.

“I am happy to solemnly declare the end of the 11th epidemic of the Ebola virus,” Health Minister Eteni Longondo told journalists.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the latest outbreak had killed 55 people among 119 confirmed and 11 probable cases since June 1.

Wednesday’s announcement came after the DR Congo crossed a threshold of 42 days without a recorded case – double the period that the deadly haemorrhage virus takes to incubate.

As during a preceding epidemic in the east of the country, widespread use of vaccinations, which were administered to more than 40,000 people, helped curb the disease, the WHO said.

The outbreak in Equateur erupted as Ebola fighters were still battling the epidemic in the east and amid tough measures, since eased, to combat the Coronavirus.

The outbreak “occurred in a particular context,” Longondo said.

He added that it unfolded in an area of rivers and lakes whose remoteness fueled the risk of a spread to other provinces and the neighbouring Republic of Congo.

Equateur was previously hit by Ebola between May and July 2018. Thirty-three people died.

Deadly epidemics

The eastern outbreak, which ran from August 1 2018 to June 25 2020, was the country’s worst ever, with 2,277 deaths.

It was also the second highest toll in the 44-year history of the disease, surpassed only by a 3-country outbreak in West Africa from 2013-16 that killed 11,300 people.

The Ebola virus is passed on by contact with the blood, body fluids, secretions or organs of an infected or recently deceased person.

The early symptoms are high fever, weakness, intense muscle and joint pain, headaches and sore throats. These are often followed by vomiting and diarrhoea, skin eruptions, kidney and liver failure, and internal and external bleeding.

The death rate is notoriously high, ranging up to 90 percent in some outbreaks, according to the WHO.

The virus has a natural reservoir in nature, which is believed to be a species of bat.