WHO raises alarm over undetected Ebola cases in DR Congo

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to worsen with the number of confirmed cases surging past 9,000 with more than 4,300 deaths.

Health authorities are struggling to contain the epidemic which has now spread across seven provinces, as responders struggle to slow transmission in multiple hotspots.

What is alarming health workers is that many of the deaths are occurring outside treatment centres.

Dr Catherine Swallwood, incident manager at the World Health Organization in the DR Congo says about of the total number of cases, about 60 per are community deaths.

“Now, over the past few weeks, about one-third of all new cases have still been community deaths. So that means we are not detecting cases while the patients are still alive,” she said.

With so many cases going undetected om communities, the WHO said it is now turning its focus to areas that are either remote or in health zones that are difficult to access.

“It's very difficult to be everywhere all the time. The strategy now is to really reach out to the communities that are hardest hit and bring our response to them,” said Swallwood.

“It is in those communities that people are sick; people are dying. That is where we need to reach out to them to set up services and the response.”

The overall case fatality rate for the rare Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus is 48.3 per cent. No vaccine or treatment for it has been specifically approved yet, although clinical trials are underway.