Lead image for Ebola closes in on 2,000 deaths as DRC outbreak tests limits of response.
The Ebola outbreak tearing through the Democratic Republic of Congo has crossed another threshold, with more deaths and nearly 2,000 people now confirmed dead as health authorities confront a virus that is spreading beyond the reach of conventional containment efforts.
According to the latest figures from Congolese health authorities, 4,294 people have been confirmed infected, while 1,960 have died. Another 722 patients are hospitalised or remain under hospital care, putting the crude case-fatality rate at 45.6 per cent. That is, almost one in every two people confirmed to have Ebola has died.
Contact tracing, one of the central tools used to break chains of Ebola transmission, is running at about 85 per cent.
The numbers expose the scale of an outbreak that has already become the largest Ebola epidemic recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is being described by health authorities and international agencies as the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak yet recorded.
But behind the headline numbers is an even more troubling reality: a substantial share of infections are being detected outside established chains of transmission, making it harder for responders to identify who has been exposed before they become infectious.
The World Health Organization says the outbreak involves the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, a relatively rare strain for which there is currently no licensed vaccine or specific treatment. The agency has warned that the response is taking place against a backdrop of insecurity, population movement and a humanitarian crisis in eastern DRC.