Ebola, 131 dead and 500 suspects in Congo. US blocks entry from affected countries

NAIROBI - The death toll from the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, confirmed on 15 May by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Control and classified by the World Health Organisation as an 'international' emergency, is rising. The British broadcaster BBC speaks of a total of 131 deaths and over 500 suspected cases, citing local health sources. The DR Congo authorities later confirmed the estimate, increasing the bulletin of 106 deaths and 395 cases issued by Africa Cdc a few hours earlier.

The count includes infections detected in the original outbreak in Ituri province on the eastern borders of DR Congo, but cases are also being documented in the North Kivu capital Goma and at least two suspects across the border in Uganda.

The fear is that of a regional proliferation of the virus, which has reappeared in a more insidious variant than the average one: the strain spread today, Bundibugyo, is rarer and cannot be treated or contained by drugs as in the case of the 'normal' Zaire variant. 'The risk of a regional spread of the epidemic is unfortunately very high,' Chiara Montaldo of the non-governmental organisation Doctors Without Borders tells Il Sole 24 Ore. The epidemic, she adds, is no longer confined "to a single area of the Democratic Republic of Congo" and is developing in a "geographical and social context" that plays into its propagation. 'Ituri is a region characterised by intense population movements, continuous trade and proximity to Uganda and South Sudan,' Montaldo says. 'These movements inevitably increase the risk of virus transmission on a regional scale. The United States has raised the alert level and suspended the right of entry of foreigners who have travelled in the last 21 days between Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. The measure, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in force for the next 30 days, has drawn criticism from the African Union.

The Ebola virus was first detected in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1970s and has reappeared with some 20 outbreaks since then. One of the best known, and most recent, is the one that broke out in West Africa between 2014 and 2016 and cost a total of 28,600 cases.

The World Health Organisation told the Afp agency of an 'emergency meeting' being convened on 19 May, while the Ministry of Health in Italia has activated a 'vigilance' regime on NGO staff from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Today, according to Reuters news agency, the WHO will discuss the search for a vaccine suitable for containing a strain with a 40% lethality rate.