Star Metro - New deadly Ebola outbreak hits DR Congo, 1 dead in Uganda

Until now, the outbreak had been confined to Ituri province in northeastern DRC, bordering Uganda and South Sudan, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa).

It warned of a high risk of spread, with 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths reported in the DRC.

On Friday evening, Uganda's health ministry said a 59-year-old man from the DRC had died in Kampala after being admitted earlier in the week. His body was repatriated the same day.

"This is an imported case from DRC. The country has not yet confirmed a local case," the ministry said.

Tests showed the man was infected with the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which no vaccine exists. Vaccines are only available for the Zaire strain, which is the deadliest variant.

"It is a large outbreak," said Jay Bhattacharya, acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The DRC government has not yet commented on the outbreak in the vast central African nation of more than 100 million people.

"The region where it is happening is highly volatile with the humanitarian situation" and cross-border population movements, said WHO emergency alert and response director Abdi Rahman Mahamud.

But he noted the country has extensive experience managing Ebola outbreaks.

"With the insecurity, people are crowded together in the city, and since there are so many people in the city, an epidemic like this would be very serious," Anne-Marie Dive, a resident of Bunia, the main city in Ituri, said by telephone.

- Suspected cases -

Mining in the gold-rich Ituri province creates an intense movement of people on a daily basis.

For years, it has been plagued by recurrent clashes driven by local militias, making it difficult to access certain parts of the province for security reasons.

The cases reported in recent weeks were in Mongbwalu and Rwampara health zones, each home to around 150,000 people.

Suspected cases have been detected in Bunia, which has an estimated population of 300,000, and are awaiting confirmation, CDC Africa said.

The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever has killed an estimated 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years, despite advances in vaccines and treatment.

The last outbreak in the country was in August in the central region and killed at least 34 people, before being declared eradicated in December.

Nearly 2,300 people died in the deadliest outbreak in the DRC between 2018 and 2020.

First identified in 1976 and believed to have originated in bats, Ebola is a deadly viral disease spread through direct contact with bodily fluids. It can cause severe bleeding and organ failure.

- 'We just dug graves' -

Burials have already taken place and concern is mounting among locals.

"For the past few weeks, the municipality of Mongbwalu has been recording a cascade of deaths, with at least five to six people dying every day in the streets," Gloire Mumbesa, who lives in the area, told AFP by telephone.

"We just dug graves to bury three people, but we don't actually know what these people died of. We're starting to be afraid of every possible case of illness," Salama Bamunoba, a civil society member in Rwampara, said.

A health source in the Mongbwalu area, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said an "exponential" number of deaths had been seen since mid-April.

Patients are currently placed in isolation in health centres but the staff lack equipment including protective gear, the source said.

In a country four times the size of France, delivering medicines is often a challenge, with transportation infrastructure limited and often in poor condition.

The current Ebola outbreak is the 17th in the DRC since the virus was first detected in the country.

Guinea, Uganda and Sierra Leone have also seen Ebola outbreaks in recent years.

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X.Baker--SMC