The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC's) North Kivu district continues to grow, amid new healthcare worker infections and concerns that regional violence is making surveillance and detection challenging for international aid workers.

According to an update released late yesterday by the DRC's healthy ministry, Ebola cases now total 96 (5 new cases), with 69 confirmed. In addition, 55 people have died. The 5 new cases and 5 newly recorded deaths are all in Mabalako health zone.

Vaccination efforts continue in Mabalako, Beni, and Mangina health zones, the epicenters of the outbreak, and the DRC said a new Ebola treatment center (ETC) will soon open in Ituri province, as the established ETCs in the region are at capacity.

Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesperson with the World Health Organization (WHO), told CIDRAP News that 13 healthcare workers have tested positive for Ebola, a troubling development, because infected health workers were one of the main factors in the rapid spread of the disease during the 2013-2016 outbreak in West Africa.

Jasarevic also commented on a recent UNICEF report that said children were being infected at high rates during this outbreak.

"The case distribution is slightly younger than what we might expect when compared to previous outbreaks, but still within the general range; each outbreak is different," he said.

Contact tracing in red zones

On Twitter, the WHO confirmed that 10 vaccination rings have been identified around the most recent 28 cases in the outbreak, leading to approximately 1,300 people being vaccinated with Merck's unlicensed Ebola vaccine.

Earlier this year, the vaccine was used successfully to prevent transmission in a smaller outbreak in western DRC. That outbreak was declared over in late July, after 54 confirmed illnesses, 33 of them fatal.

Although the previous outbreak was challenging because it took place in such a rural area, WHO and DRC officials emphasize the challenge is greater in the current outbreak, which is taking place in an eastern region riddled with as many as 130 rebel fighting groups.

Earlier today, Peter Salama, MD, the WHO's deputy director-general for emergency preparedness and response, tweeted that 41 case contacts in security "red zones" are being followed up daily by health workers from DRC and Doctors Without Borders.

Last week, WHO officials said in a press conference that the "red zones" were largely inaccessible to workers trying to complete vaccination chains, and were the most frightening aspect of the outbreak.

Experimental treatment being used on 10 patients

Yesterday Reuters reported that 10 patients in North Kivu are being treated with an experimental monoclonal antibody treatment, mAb114, in Beni.

According to an official from DRC's National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) the 10 patients received the treatment via infusion, and are all showing signs of improvement. The INRB said it is expecting another shipment of mAb114 from the United States later this week.

See also:

Aug 20 DRC update

WHO Regional Office for Africa Twitter feed

Peter Salama Twitter feed

Aug 20 Reuters story

Aug 14 CIDRAP News story "DRC Ebola cases surpass earlier outbreak total, virus infects 4 more health workers"