DRC Ebola outbreak death toll rises to 360, cases exceed 1,200

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have updated the death toll from the current Ebola outbreak to 360, with 1,274 confirmed cases as of June 27. The epidemic, officially declared on May 15 in the country's eastern Ituri province, now has a reported fatality rate of 28.3%.

The latest bulletin from the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) also indicates that 178 individuals have recovered, while 502 patients remain hospitalized or in isolation. The INSP highlighted persistent challenges in early detection and healthcare access, along with the identification of new cases without clear origins, suggesting a potential geographical spread requiring further investigation.

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The outbreak, initially centered in Ituri province (accounting for 91.4% of cases and 83.6% of deaths), has since expanded to the neighboring eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. The epidemic has also crossed borders, with Uganda reporting 20 confirmed cases, including 15 considered imported from the DRC, resulting in two deaths. France has also confirmed its first case: a doctor returning from a mission in the DRC.

This outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which has a case fatality rate ranging from 30% to 50% and for which no licensed vaccine or specific treatment exists, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO assesses the risk of further spread in sub-Saharan Africa as "high" but the global risk as "low." The current epidemic ranks as the third-worst in recorded history, surpassed only by the West Africa outbreak between 2014 and 2016 (approximately 11,000 deaths) and a previous DRC outbreak from 2018 to 2020 (2,299 deaths).

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