The Ebola epidemic in Africa has claimed more than 5,300 lives, most of them in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the epicentre of the outbreak, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
The Democratic Republic of the Congo officially declared the outbreak nearly six months ago, on May 15. Experts agree that the virus, which was detected late, had re-emerged in the country, home to more than 100 million people, several months earlier.
The Ebola virus, which is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and causes severe haemorrhagic fever, has claimed more than 15,000 lives in Africa over the past 50 years. The worst recorded outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo killed around 2,300 people out of 3,500 reported cases between 2018 and 2020.
According to data received by Agence France-Presse (AFP) from the Africa CDC, the Ebola epidemic, which has spread to other parts of the African continent, has claimed 5,376 lives, including 5,372 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, two in Uganda and two in Kenya.
A total of 10,444 cases have been reported, with a fatality rate of more than 50 per cent.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which no approved vaccine or treatment is currently available.
In recent weeks, doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which has proven effective against the Zaire strain, the most common strain in previous outbreaks, have been administered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of a clinical trial.
