A woman walks past a hospital in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo, on July 3. The facility is a designated site scheduled to host clinical trials for Ebola treatments. DIROLE LOTSIMA DIEUDONN/AP
As Ebola infections continue to surge in the Democratic Republic of Congo, African scientists have launched unprecedented clinical trials for new treatments and preventive therapies in a race to outpace the continent's fastest-growing outbreak.
As of Sunday, the DR Congo had reported 1,926 confirmed Ebola cases and 702 deaths. The outbreak has spread across 37 health zones in three provinces, with 94 percent of cases concentrated in Ituri Province.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that Uganda, which has reported 20 mostly imported cases, has largely managed to contain transmission through aggressive surveillance and contact tracing.
"Unfortunately, the virus is still ahead of our response," said Wessam Mankoula, head of the Continental Incident Management Support Team at the Africa CDC, during a media briefing on Thursday. "It's moving faster than deploying the resources to control the situation."
