KINSHASA, DRC | Xinhua | Africa’s fight against Ebola faces mounting challenges as the virus spreads across national borders, with the second death in Kenya and uncertainties over the source of Nigeria’s first infection complicating containment efforts, even as a major vaccine trial launched Friday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) offers fresh hope.
The latest developments in the disease’s spread have heightened concerns over gaps in cross-border surveillance and regional preparedness, with Uganda tightening transit restrictions amid fears of further spread. Scientists, meanwhile, are racing to develop vaccines against the Bundibugyo virus as the DRC battles its deadliest Ebola outbreak on record.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the outbreak has now affected five countries, including four in Africa. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has previously described it as the most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak ever recorded on the continent.
In the DRC, the outbreak has claimed 4,687 lives among 9,704 confirmed cases as of Oct. 20, spreading to eight of the country’s 26 provinces.
KENYA REPORTS SECOND DEATH
Kenya’s Ministry of Health announced late Friday that a 65-year-old woman receiving Ebola treatment had died, bringing the country’s death toll to two among nine confirmed cases.
The woman, a close family member of the country’s first confirmed Ebola patient, had been placed under quarantine before developing symptoms on Oct. 13. She was admitted to a treatment facility the same day but died Friday evening.
The first patient, who had traveled from the DRC through Uganda, died in Nairobi on Oct. 5.
All eight subsequent infections have been linked to the initial case, including four family members and four healthcare workers. The seven surviving patients remain under treatment at two isolation facilities.
Kenyan authorities said there was “no evidence of community transmission” beyond the identified cluster, while the WHO reported Friday that all 135 contacts of the initial patient had been traced and quarantined.
NIGERIA CASE RAISES QUESTIONS OVER INFECTION SOURCE
In Nigeria, new genomic findings have suggested a close link between the viruses detected in the country’s first Ebola patient and Kenya’s initial case, as conflicting accounts of the patient’s travel history complicate efforts to trace the source of infection.
Nigerian Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Muhammad Ali Pate said Friday that genomic sequencing showed the virus detected in the country’s only confirmed Ebola case was “highly similar” to that found in Kenya’s first imported case, “differing by just one mutation.”
The Nigeria case was confirmed in Abuja, the capital, on Oct. 20. According to the WHO, the patient arrived in Nigeria on Oct. 3, developed symptoms four days later and tested positive for the Bundibugyo virus on Oct. 20.
According to Swiss media reports citing Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the patient is a Swiss national married to a staff member of the Swiss Embassy in Abuja. Official sources said neither the woman nor her husband, who is in isolation, had traveled to the DRC, contradicting an earlier account by Ugandan authorities.
The Ugandan Health Ministry said Friday the patient had shown no symptoms when departing from the country, adding that investigations were continuing to establish when her symptoms began and where she might have been exposed.
According to the WHO, Nigeria had identified 44 contacts as of Oct. 20 and intensified surveillance and infection prevention measures. Nigeria’s health authorities said the patient was showing signs of recovery, with no evidence of community transmission.
UGANDA TIGHTENS TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
On Friday, Uganda announced additional precautionary measures, including restrictions on travelers with a history of travel to the DRC.
In a statement, the Ugandan Health Ministry said such travelers would no longer be permitted to transit through the country.
Authorities also reinstated traveler locator forms for all passengers, reinforced infection prevention measures at entry and exit points and health facilities, and strengthened nationwide surveillance.
The ministry stressed that Uganda remains free of Ebola.
Uganda reported 20 confirmed cases, including two deaths, before the end of the outbreak was officially recognized by the WHO and Africa CDC on Aug. 27, after 42 consecutive days without a new confirmed case.
The WHO, meanwhile, reiterated Friday that it does not recommend travel or trade restrictions on affected countries, calling instead for stronger surveillance, timely case detection and coordinated cross-border preparedness.
VACCINE TRIAL OFFERS HOPE
As countries stepped up efforts to prevent further spread, a major clinical trial evaluating vaccines against the Bundibugyo virus began Friday in Bunia, the capital of the DRC’s hardest-hit Ituri province.
The Phase 2/3 trial was launched with the vaccination of its first participant.
Despite the scale of the ongoing epidemic, no vaccine has been approved specifically against the Bundibugyo virus.
The trial will assess the safety, immune responses and effectiveness of several vaccine candidates, using an adaptive platform design that allows multiple vaccines to be evaluated within a single study.
The WHO said the trial is a critical step toward establishing whether candidate vaccines could effectively protect people against the virus.
The agency has warned that Ebola infections in the DRC had rebounded after a brief decline, with the latest seven-day moving average suggesting “renewed intensification of transmission.”
It said that escalating insecurity, population displacement and restricted humanitarian access were further complicating response operations and increasing the risk of undetected transmission. ■
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