JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO) said the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is spreading faster than health authorities can control it and is expected to be the deadliest outbreak ever recorded.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday, with the current rate, the outbreak has the potential to surpass the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2016, a crisis that killed more than 11,000 people and spurred efforts to develop a vaccine, quoted from Al Jazeera and Associated Press (13/8).
The outbreak in the eastern DR Congo region has killed more than 2,000 people out of more than 4,300 recorded cases, making it the fastest spreading Ebola outbreak in history.
The outbreak was officially announced on May 15, although genetic sequencing analysis later revealed that the virus had actually started to spread since February.
The outbreak is caused by a rare type of Bundibugyo virus, which to date has no approved vaccine or treatment.
Efforts to control the outbreak are hampered by the location of remote areas and ongoing conflicts near the Congo's borders with South Sudan, Uganda, and Rwanda.
Many cases of infection and death occur in communities that are difficult for health teams to reach. Weak infrastructure, clinics with limited resources, the spread of misinformation, and medical staff strikes due to unpaid salaries have also slowed the response.
Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud, director of WHO's health emergency preparedness and response operations, said that based on the agency's moderate projection, the outbreak is expected to peak within six months.
However, in a more severe scenario, this outbreak could last for nine to 12 months.
The 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa is still the deadliest on record, with more than 11,000 deaths from about 28,000 cases, and triggered a massive international effort to develop a vaccine.
WHO officials said the current crisis could exceed the number of victims if access to the affected communities did not improve immediately.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
