DRC Ebola Outbreak Nears 100 Days With Nearly 5,000 Cases and 2,000 Deaths in Congo - Brazzaville

On 23 August, it will be 100 days since the Bundibugyo strain was first reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The outbreak, declared on 15 May, has now produced almost 5,000 cases and more than 2,000 deaths, making it the biggest and most deadly Ebola outbreak in the country's history. According to Dr Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), speaking at a press briefing in mid-August, the outbreak is on course to be the largest one in the world.

The disease is thought to have been spreading unreported for months before the official declaration, giving it a significant head start. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said last week that the outbreak had a big head start, adding: It is still way ahead of us and we are playing catch-up. The Bundibugyo virus causing the latest outbreak is a rarer type of the Ebola disease, and has no licensed vaccine or medicine.