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World's second biggest Ebola outbreak erupts in DR Congo


The Ebola outbreak which started in August, in the Democratic Republic of Congo's conflict-torn border province of North Kivu has surpassed 550 cases as of December 19. According to the World Health Organization, the Democratic Republic of Congo has 560 confirmed cases of Ebola patients, including 336 deaths as of December 19. 193 people have recovered from Ebola and 87 cases are still under investigation. Ebola cases have also been reported in North Kivu's neighboring Ituri province. The current outbreak has a case fatality rate of approximately 58%. 
According to the World Health Organization, the Democratic Republic of Congo's minister of health, Dr Oly Ilunga Kalenga, MD, PhD, visited the affected cities of Beni, Goma and Butembo in North Kivu province to prepare for s third strategic response plan, which will cover the period from February to April 2019. In a statement cited by CNN, Congo's health ministry said "This constant adaptation of the national strategy demonstrates the dynamic nature of this response to the most complex Ebola outbreak in the country's history." 
According to the World Health Organization, North Kivu has been experiencing long-term conflict, with 50 armed groups causing intermittent violence, which has complicated health workers' efforts to contain the outbreak. In a December 20 update, the World Health Organization said nonetheless, "meaningful progress has been made across the outbreak affected areas, most especially in Beni where there has been a general decrease in case incidence in recent weeks." 
The World Health Organization has vaccinated close to 50,000 people with an experimental Ebola vaccine that has slowed the tide of Ebola transmission.
The current outbreak is the second largest and second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. The deadliest is the 2014 outbreak in West Africa which recorded more than 11,000 deaths. Christmas travel could allow the killer Ebola virus to spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Uganda, officials fear. Experts say the virus "moves closer every day" to countries bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo. These high-risk countries are on high-alert.
"Christmas is a particular concern because we know there is a lot of movement as people buy food and visit family", said Andrew Bakainga, a senior WHO official in Uganda. He went on to say, "We expect the number of people moving across the border might increase from around 300,000 to 500,000 per month."


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