The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has become the deadliest in the country’s history, with 2,325 people now confirmed to have died, according to government data.
The death toll has surpassed the 2,299 fatalities recorded during the 2018-2020 outbreak, which was previously the country’s worst Ebola epidemic.
DR Congo’s public health institute said confirmed infections had risen to 4,945, including 101 new cases recorded in the previous 24 hours.
The outbreak, declared on May 15, is the country’s 17th and had already become its largest in terms of infections by late July.
Only the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa has been significantly larger. That outbreak recorded 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization.
The speed at which deaths have increased in DR Congo has raised particular concern. The current outbreak reached 2,000 deaths in less than three months, while the West African epidemic took nearly five months to reach 1,000 deaths.
Health authorities are facing major challenges in containing the outbreak, including weak health infrastructure, community resistance and insecurity, which have made it harder to identify and treat patients quickly.
The fatality rate among confirmed cases has also climbed sharply, from about 20% in early June to 46%, meaning nearly one in two confirmed patients has died.
However, health experts say the increase does not necessarily mean the virus has become more deadly. Instead, they point to delays in detecting cases and limited access to medical care.
“Normally, as an outbreak progresses, the case fatality ratio should fall as contact tracing improves and patients are identified and treated earlier,” said Thomas Parisch, a public health specialist recently deployed to DR Congo with Médecins Sans Frontières.
“Instead, we’re still seeing many cases detected very late, when treatment is less likely to succeed, with many identified only after they die in the community.”
The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, for which there are currently no approved vaccines or treatments.
A small number of experimental vaccines and therapies are being assessed, although available evidence is still largely based on animal studies.
The virus had earlier spread to neighbouring Uganda, where authorities recorded 20 confirmed cases and two deaths before declaring the outbreak over last month.
Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected people, whether alive or dead. Symptoms can include fever, vomiting and diarrhoea, while severe infections can lead to internal and external bleeding.