DR Congo's Deadly Ebola Outbreak Is 'Evolving Fast,' WHO Warns

A dangerous Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) is growing fast, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday. The outbreak started in mid-May in the northeastern part of the country. Health workers are working hard to stop the virus from spreading further. The WHO says the situation is serious and moving faster than expected.

The WHO's top Africa emergencies official, Marie-Roseline Belizaire, spoke to reporters from Bunia, the main city in DR Congo's Ituri province. Ituri is at the center of the outbreak. She said the response is getting stronger every day, but the virus is still moving quickly. 'The outbreak remains serious and is evolving so fast,' she said.

So far, there have been 896 confirmed cases in DR Congo, including 232 deaths. In just the last 24 hours before the report, 21 new cases were found. More than 90 percent of all known cases have been in Ituri province, which has also been dealing with armed conflict. The outbreak has also spread to two other provinces, North Kivu and South Kivu.

This Ebola outbreak is caused by a rare type of the virus called the Bundibugyo strain. There is no vaccine or special medicine to treat this strain. That makes it especially dangerous. Ebola spreads when people have close contact with someone who is infected or come into contact with their bodily fluids.

Health teams have been working fast to set up treatment centers and testing. The number of hospital beds for Ebola patients went from zero to more than 500. Testing teams can now run more than 2,000 tests a day. Surveillance teams — people who look for signs of the disease — are checking nearly 400 alerts every day.

One major challenge is finding and monitoring people who may have been in contact with someone who has Ebola. So far, 75 percent of those contacts are being reached. But the WHO says 95 percent must be found to truly get the outbreak under control. Reaching that goal is still a work in progress.

Another problem is that some sick people are not going to hospitals right away. Instead, they stay home and then visit traditional healers before finally going to a health clinic. This delay makes it harder to treat them in time. Belizaire said that 78 people in DR Congo have recovered from Ebola, which she called a 'powerful reminder that a timely diagnosis, access to quality healthcare can save lives.'

Health workers themselves have also been affected badly. So far, 75 healthcare workers have been infected with Ebola, and 17 of them have died. Belizaire said this is 'a really high price that the healthcare system is paying.' Because many cases are happening in communities, it is hard to know exactly where workers got infected.

A Chinese medical team has arrived in DR Congo's capital, Kinshasa, and is heading to Bunia to help. In the neighboring country of Uganda, 19 confirmed cases have been reported, including two deaths and 10 recoveries. The UN migration agency has also done more than one million health screenings at borders to help catch potential cases before they spread further.