NewzData showed the total number of deaths surpassed the 2,299 recorded in Congo’s 2018-2020 outbreak, previously the country’s worst on record. The latest government data shows that the total number of deaths has surpassed the 2,299 deaths recorded in Congo's 2018-2020 outbreak, which was previously the country's worst on record.There are now 4,945 confirmed cases, the data showed.Three months after it was formally announced, the outbreak is now dwarfed only by West Africa's 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in which 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths were recorded across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization.It took nearly five months from the declaration of that outbreak to hit 1,000 deaths, whereas Congo's current outbreak hit 2,000 deaths in less than three months.No treatments available for rare Ebola speciesThe current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which has no approved vaccines or treatments. The outbreak has gained momentum since it was declared on May 15, as weak health infrastructure, community resistance and instability hinder the effort to identify and respond to cases.The proportion of people dying from the outbreak after a confirmed infection, known as the case fatality ratio, has risen from about 20% in early June to 46%, according to government data, meaning nearly one in every two confirmed cases is now fatal.Experts say the trend does not indicate the virus has become more lethal.
Instead, it points to persistent shortcomings in surveillance, case detection and access to 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 Democratic Republic of Congo with Medecins Sans Frontieres."Instead, we're still…
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