The Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has become the second largest in recorded history, with 1,118 confirmed cases and 291 deaths reported as of June 24, spreading faster in its first month than any previous Ebola outbreak on record, according to the World Health Organization.
The outbreak, which began in Ituri Province in northeastern DRC in May and was declared a global health emergency on May 16, has now spread across three provinces. Ituri alone accounts for 1,020 confirmed cases across 22 health zones. North Kivu has recorded 95 cases and South Kivu three. Uganda has confirmed 20 cases and two deaths among travellers from the DRC. One imported case has also been confirmed in France, involving a doctor who returned from a humanitarian mission.
The crisis is compounded by the fact that no approved vaccine or specific treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain. Existing Ebola vaccines and therapies were developed for the Zaire strain, a different species. UNICEF warned this week that nearly three million children in the affected zones are at risk, with children and adolescents accounting for over 25 percent of confirmed deaths.
A parallel controversy is now unfolding in Kenya. The United States, which declared it would not allow Ebola-exposed citizens to return home, proposed building a 50-bed quarantine facility at Laikipia Air Base, 200 kilometres north of Nairobi, funded partly by a $13.5 million US contribution to Kenya’s Ebola preparedness programme. The plan triggered deadly protests in the nearby town of Nanyuki, killing two people, and a legal challenge from the Katiba Institute rights group, which argued the facility was being built in secret without public consultation.
A Kenyan court suspended construction and operations at the base, and Kenya’s Health Minister Aden Duale was found in contempt of court after defying multiple earlier orders to halt work. He subsequently appeared in court and announced a full cessation of activity pending the outcome of the case. Kenya has recorded no Ebola cases.
