WHO warns Ebola outbreak in DRC fastest-growing in history

The current Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has become the fastest-growing in history, with health authorities detecting previously unidentified chains of virus transmission, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is already the second-largest on record, and the fastest-moving that we have ever seen,” he was quoted as saying on the WHO website.

Ghebreyesus said the spread of the deadly infection is being facilitated by the lack of adequate conditions for safe funerals, resulting in most deaths continuing to be recorded within local communities. The situation is further exacerbated by the vast geographical area affected by the outbreak and a lack of timely operational data available to health services.

"That means there are chains of transmission we don’t know about. Until every chain is found and broken, the epidemic will continue,” the WHO chief said.

He stressed that without identifying all hidden routes of infection and stabilizing sanitary conditions, it would be impossible to halt the further spread of the virus in the region.

On August 20, Julien Harneis, a representative of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the DRC, said the Ebola epidemic was rapidly worsening, with half of the 2,500 deaths linked to the virus occurring over the preceding 20 days.

Harneis noted that the outbreak is unfolding in a region that has been affected by armed conflict for three decades, leaving humanitarian needs at extremely high levels.

The outbreak began with a new case of animal-to-human transmission of the virus, and then spread to humans. Investigators were unable to identify the animal that was the original source of the outbreak.

By Vafa Guliyeva