Congo’s fastest-growing Ebola outbreak reaches a sixth province

Congo's fastest-growing Ebola outbreak has spread to a sixth province after a death in Bas-Uele, with the man having traveled from Haut-Uele province, Africa CDC Director Jean Kaseya said Thursday. The Bundibugyo virus outbreak has killed over 2,100 people out of more than 4,500 cases and is advancing three times faster than the 2014-16 West African epidemic, the WHO said. Health workers' strikes, misinformation, armed conflict, and limited access are hampering response efforts in eastern Congo.

The outbreak, declared in May but confirmed to have begun in February, is concentrated in Ituri province with 90 percent of cases. Bas-Uele borders the Central African Republic and South Sudan, raising cross-border transmission concerns. No approved vaccines or treatments exist for the rare Bundibugyo strain driving the outbreak.