Congo Ebola outbreak kills over 1,000 as Africa CDC warns of worsening crisis

More than 1000 people have died in the Ebola outbreak in Congo according to Africas top health body a grim toll in the fastest Ebola outbreak in history as conflict community resistance and an uneven response fuel its spreadSpeaking at a health summit in Ghana on Wednesday Dr Jean Kaseya directorgeneral of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said 1031 deaths have been confirmedThese are people dying They are dying because we dont have vaccines we dont have medicine we dont have funding he addedThe latest update from Congos Ministry of Health showed that as of Monday 2473 cases had been recorded in the latest outbreak At least 737 patients were in isolation or hospitalised it saidThe outbreak which was declared on May 15 is unlike most previous Ebola outbreaks because the Bundibugyo virus responsible for it has no approved vaccines or treatmentsIt has also killed more people at a faster rate than any outbreak on record including the 20132016 outbreak that is considered the worst on record with over 11000 deaths out of at least 28000 casesThat outbreak took about eight months from the first case to reach 1000 deathsThe World Health Organisation has said the true scale of the outbreak could be two to four times larger than official figures indicateSome communities at its epicentre also remain difficult to reach mainly because of fighting involving rebel groupsEbola is rare but highly contagious and can be contracted through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit blood or semen It can cause severe illness and is often fatalOfficials have warned that 80 per cent of new cases have emerged outside known chains of transmission a sign the outbreak is spreading faster than health officials can track it even as they step up their response in Ituri province the epicentre of the outbreak and four other provinces where cases have been recordedCommunity resistance to Ebola teams particularly those carrying out safe burials has also hampered the responseRobert Ndjalonga head of civil protection in Ituri province said some communities have refused to allow burial teams to operate because they prefer traditional burials increasing the risk of further transmissionThe biggest challenge remains resistance from or outright refusal by some communities to accept response teams Ndjalonga saidOn several occasions burial teams have had to be escorted by security forces to ensure that safe and dignified burials could be carried out without incidentShortages of burial supplies have delayed responses to reported deaths while some affected health zones still lack operational burial teams Ndjalonga saidAttacks on health facilities and response teams have also forced frontline workers and aid groups out of some areas Some health workers have gone on strike saying they havent been paid since the outbreak startedA member of a team carrying out safe Ebola burials was recently injured when assailants threw stones at the teams vehicle following a burial in Bunia last week according to provincial civil protection authoritiesThe attack highlighted the challenges facing the response in eastern Congo In Ituris Irumu territory the local military administrator recently described Ebola as a greater threat than the Islamic Stateaffiliated Allied Democratic Forces insurgency and urged residents to support rather than attack health workersA humanitarian worker involved in the response speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly cited poor coordination between response agencies delays in transferring patients to treatment centres and waits of more than four days for some Ebola test resultsAt times its unclear who is doing what and where the worker saidThe delays have led some patients to leave health facilities before they can be diagnosed increasing the risk of further transmission the worker saidAfrica CDC head Kaseya called for intensified efforts to slow the outbreak on the first day of the health summit in Ghana on TuesdayIf we do not stop this outbreak today it could become one of the worst Ebola outbreaks the world has ever documented Kaseya saidLess than 9 per cent of the contacts of confirmed patients who are expected to be traced are currently being monitored far below the level needed to contain the outbreak according to Africa CDC More than 60 per cent of deaths are occurring in the community before patients can receive carePierre Akilimali the Ebola response incident manager at the National Public Health Institute of the Democratic Republic of the Congo said the high number of community deaths suggests many infections are not being detected or isolated in time allowing the virus to continue spreadingLast month researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used computer modelling to estimate how the outbreak could evolve In a worstcase scenario they said it could approach the scale of the 20142016 West Africa epidemicTheres never been an Ebola outbreak that started with so many cases because it was so late to be identified said Trish Newport emergency program manager for Doctors Without Borders who has been working in CongoIts like the outbreak is outrunning the response Newport saidUniversity of Pittsburgh epidemiologist Dr Jean Nachega who is advising African health authorities said he does not expect the outbreak to reach the CDCs worstcase scenario but cautioned that the challenges remain hugeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever