Knowledge gaps hamper Ebola outbreak response

As scientists race to understand the growing Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo, ​medics say knowledge gaps are still hampering detection and care for sick patients.

Since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, Congo’s ‌government has reported more than 1,100 cases and almost 300 deaths, by far the biggest outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola to date. There have also been 20 confirmed cases and two deaths in neighbouring Uganda.

“We’re facing an outbreak… that we’re just, to be honest, beginning to understand,” World Health Organization emergencies director ​Chikwe Ihekweazu told a press conference on Wednesday. There have only been two previous outbreaks, in Uganda in 2007 and Congo ​in 2012, which caused roughly 200 cases.

Ebola Bundibugyo is distinct from the better-known Ebola Zaire, which caused ⁠the largest-ever outbreak in West Africa in 2014 to 2016. But it is part of the same family of filoviruses and causes similar ​symptoms, including fever, vomiting and diarrhea, and sometimes bleeding.

LESSER-KNOWN THREAT

The current outbreak was found late because the most common tests detect Zaire, not ​Bundibugyo. And unlike for Zaire, there are no vaccines or treatments to help tackle it, although treatment trials start next week.

The lack of data on how to spot the disease is still causing problems, Congolese officials and doctors said, particularly because the early symptoms are also common in other diseases like malaria, and seem ​to start mildly for Bundibugyo, meaning people may delay seeking care.

“For those at [the] early stage of the disease, it looks milder than Zaire, ​and I believe that [is] one of the reasons we are seeing more than 50% patients at an advanced stage,” said Abdou Sebushishe, a senior adviser ‌at the ⁠International Medical Corps in eastern Congo, which runs several Ebola treatment centres.

Bleeding is also linked to later stages of Ebola, particularly in the minds of the community who experienced the Zaire outbreak in the same region of Congo in 2018 and 2019, said Dr Emmanuel Musingusi Bulemu, a Congolese health official investigating cases in the Nizi area of Ituri Province, the worst-hit region.

Bleeding is also linked to later stages of Ebola, particularly in the minds of the community who experienced the Zaire outbreak in the same region of Congo in 2018 and 2019, said Dr Emmanuel Musingusi Bulemu, a Congolese health official investigating cases in the Nizi area of Ituri Province, the worst-hit region.

-Reuters