Second Death From Ebola Confirmed in Northwestern DR Congo, Over 100 Cases Feared

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Tuesday that a second person had died of Ebola hemorrhagic fever, just three days after confirming that an outbreak had begun.

The woman who died was the 14th confirmed case in the outbreak and was a relative of the man who died on Saturday, the first death of the outbreak. She died in Mbandaka, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s northwestern Equateur Province.

While the first victim had been receiving care at home for more than a week, the woman received no care at all, according to the WHO.

However, DRC health authorities reportedly believe that the true number of cases may be more than 100. They expect to be administering vaccines in the area on Wednesday, with more than 1,300 treatment courses being flown in, but the WHO said they are already behind in trying to stem the outbreak.

“Time is not on our side. The disease has had a two-week head start and we are now playing catch-up,” WHO Africa director Dr Matshidiso Moeti said on Monday. “The positive news is that health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have more experience than anyone else in the world at controlling Ebola outbreaks quickly.”

Ebola outbreaks are rare and big outbreaks are even rarer, typically involving a few villages because of its difficulty in being transmitted between hosts and the high mortality rate once infection sets in.

No animal reservoir for the virus has been confirmed, but it is believed to be carried by bats and primates, which spread it to humans when blood becomes shared between them, such as during the butchering process. The virus kills on average 50% of those it infects, with most deaths occurring about two weeks after the onset of symptoms. Early detection of ebola can be difficult, as its early symptoms resemble other regional illnesses, such as malaria. It was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River, a tributary of the Congo about 330 miles from Mbandaka.

A vaccine was developed and approved in the United States in 2019.