The Democratic Republic of the Congo has recorded more than 10,000 confirmed cases in the current Ebola outbreak. Figures published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on October 29 list 10,193 confirmed cases and 4,960 confirmed deaths in the country as of October 27.
The outbreak is caused by Bundibugyo virus. The CDC describes it as the second-largest Ebola outbreak recorded. Its published totals are provisional and may change as authorities investigate cases and standardize reporting.
Cases beyond Congo
The same CDC update lists nine confirmed cases and two deaths in Kenya, and one confirmed case in Nigeria. Kenya’s first reported infection was linked to travel from Congo; subsequent cases involved close contacts. The CDC says Kenyan authorities had reported no community spread.
The cumulative tally includes resolved cases in Uganda and France, where the CDC reports no active cases.
Response to the Ebola outbreak
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control announced on October 27 that it was sending specialists to Nigeria. The team is providing technical advice to the EU delegation in Abuja, with assistance also offered to Nigerian authorities.
The proposed support covers surveillance, tracing people who may have been exposed, infection control and preparedness. ECDC says its deployments are coordinated through the EU Health Task Force and build on earlier work with Africa CDC and missions in Congo, Uganda and South Sudan.
ECDC assesses the overall risk to people in the EU and European Economic Area as very low. It considers infection unlikely for European residents and visitors in the affected areas of Kenya and Nigeria when recommended precautions are followed.
Barriers to containment
The CDC identifies limited access to healthcare and laboratories, insecurity and attacks on health workers as obstacles to the response. Population movement also complicates efforts to follow contacts across borders.
The agencies’ assessments distinguish the situation in affected communities from the risk to populations elsewhere. Reported case totals describe infections identified so far; they are not forecasts of how far the outbreak will spread.
Sources: CDC — outbreak situation, updated October 29, ECDC — deployment to Nigeria.
