Congo Confirms 363 Ebola Cases as Local Workers Build New Treatment Facilities and U.S. Pledges $162 Million

Congo’s National Institute of Public Health reported 363 confirmed Ebola cases and 62 deaths as of June 3. The figures include an unusual Bundibugyo strain with a fatality rate of up to 50 percent and no available vaccines or treatments. The outbreak was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the head of the World Health Organization on May 17.

At that point, nearly 250 suspected cases and 80 deaths had already occurred before laboratory confirmation. A 25-year-old midwife and a doctor in his early 30s at SOFEPADI’s Karibuni Wa Mama Medical Center in Ituri province developed fevers and severe joint pain after treating patients with similar symptoms in early May.

One of those patients has since died, and none of the three individuals has been tested for Ebola, according to medical director Elisabeth Furaha.

The hospital has no access to Ebola tests and lacks adequate supplies of protective gowns and plastic masks. Furaha said the facility is also running out of clean water. “We live with fear in our stomachs,” Furaha said.

New patient-care and isolation facilities were completed at a hospital in Bunia using locally sourced materials and labor. Health workers there are now using the added space to manage admissions tied to the outbreak. The first samples collected in early May tested negative for Ebola.

Additional samples reached the main laboratory in Kinshasa on May 14 after six days in transit and were later confirmed as the Bundibugyo variant. The molecular biology laboratory in Goma stopped operating last year after the Rwandan-backed M23 group seized the city and closed its airport. The group is now cooperating with aid organizations to restore the facility.