The ongoing outbreak in Congo is on track to surpass the deadliest one in history that killed over 11,000 people, the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
鈥淎t its current pace, it’s on track to eclipse the ,鈥� Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. That outbreak horrified the world and jolted efforts to develop a vaccine.
The , considered the fastest-growing in history, has killed over 2,000 people out of more than 4,300 cases. The outbreak was declared on May 15, but health authorities now say sequencing showed it began months earlier, in February.
It is unlike recent Ebola outbreaks because the responsible for it has no approved vaccines or treatments, though efforts to address that are underway.
WHO says this outbreak 鈥榟ad a big head start鈥�
Experts say this is moving faster than efforts to track and manage it in a remote part of eastern Congo facing ongoing conflict, near the borders with South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda.
Most new cases and deaths are being reported in communities outside the reach of health workers in a region of poor infrastructure and ill-equipped health centers. Some workers have gone on strike over . Misinformation about the virus circulates in communities where some are wary of outsiders, .
鈥淭he outbreak had a big head start, still way ahead of us. and we鈥檙e playing catch-up,鈥� Tedros said.
Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud, WHO’s director for health emergency alert and response operations, said the agency expects the peak of the outbreak to be reached in six months.
鈥淏ut … that鈥檚 the moderate scenario,鈥� Mahamud said. 鈥淭here is a one-case scenario where this outbreak may last nine months to 12 months.”
This Ebola outbreak has killed more people at a faster rate than any other, including the 2014-2016 outbreak that had at least 28,000 cases. That one took about eight months to reach 1,000 deaths.
Two vaccines for this type are being tested
Ebola is rare but highly contagious and can be contracted from bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen and from contaminated surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing. The disease it causes is severe and often fatal.
for this type of Ebola began last month in Ituri, the most affected of the five provinces where cases have been reported.
Two vaccines developed specifically for the Bundibugyo virus are now being tested in people for the first time, Tedros said Wednesday.
WHO also plans to test whether an existing Ebola vaccine could protect people against the virus after studies in animals showed promising results.
The origins of the outbreak are becoming increasingly clear.
A study published in Nature Medicine on Monday added evidence that the outbreak began when the virus jumped from an infected animal to a person, rather than stemming from earlier outbreaks. Researchers found the virus is genetically different from versions seen in Bundibugyo Ebola outbreaks in 2007 and 2012.
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Dazio reported from Berlin and Banchereau from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Mike Stobbe in New York contributed.
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