A rare strain of Ebola with no approved vaccine or treatment may have circulated undetected for weeks in conflict-hit northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo before killing at least 80 people.
Laboratory testing by the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Kinshasa confirmed the outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, the World Health Organization said Friday. The virus has caused only two previous known outbreaks, in Uganda in 2007 and eastern Congo in 2012.About 246 potential cases have been reported, mainly in Mongbwalu and Rwampara health zones in Ituri province, near the Ugandan border, with additional possible infections in Bunia, the provincial capital, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said. Four deaths have been confirmed among laboratory-positive cases.
Ebola is among the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, killing between roughly a quarter and almost 90% of infected people depending on the virus species and the medical care available. The Zaire strain, discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now Democratic Republic of Congo, caused a devastating West African epidemic a decade ago and has received the most research funding, leading to licensed vaccines and treatments.“Ebola Zaire is the one that got all the attention, for very good reasons,” said Susan McLellan, director of the biocontainment care unit at the University of Texas Medical Branch, in an interview. The development of medical countermeasures, including monoclonal antibodies and vaccines, is less advanced for Bundibugyo, she said.Clinicians would likely still consider Gilead Sciences Inc.’s remdesivir for Bundibugyo infections, McLellan said. Laboratory research has suggested the strain may be more susceptible to the antiviral than Ebola Zaire.Uganda Case
