WHO cut Congo’s suspected Ebola count to 116 after clearing hundreds of cases, but medics say contact tracing, supplies and public trust remain major hurdles.
The World Health Organization has sharply reduced the number of suspected Ebola cases in Democratic Republic of Congo, saying Tuesday that hundreds of cases previously under review had been ruled out as the outbreak continues to strain health workers in central Africa.
As of May 31, the WHO listed 116 suspected Ebola cases in Congo, down from 906 late last week. The agency said 330 infections have been confirmed across the region: 321 in Congo, including 48 deaths, and nine in neighboring Uganda, including one death.
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva that some suspected cases were confirmed, but many others “have been cleared out” after being identified as other illnesses or fever cases not linked to Ebola.
The lower suspected caseload is a notable shift in the official picture of the outbreak, but it does not mean the emergency is easing. Frontline medical workers told CBS News that response teams are still facing major gaps in detection, contact tracing, supplies and public confidence.
The International Rescue Committee told CBS News the outbreak may have been spreading undetected as early as January. Dr. Abdou Sebushishe, a medic working with the International Medical Corps in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, said teams trying to find and speak with people who had contact with Ebola patients were reaching only about a quarter of those contacts.
He said some people contacted by response workers did not believe Ebola existed, making it harder to get patients into care quickly and to limit new chains of transmission. “My message is that Ebola is real,” Sebushishe told CBS News.
Sebushishe said he believes it could take more than six months to bring the outbreak under control. He also said medics need more resources, including protective gear, to better protect health workers. According to his account, health workers made up 20% of new positive cases.
There have also been signs of progress. Five frontline nurses who contracted Ebola while treating patients have recovered and been declared Ebola-free. Baraka Bulambulu, one of the recovered health workers, described surviving the illness as “an indescribable joy.”
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus said testing, treatment capacity and trust in health workers still need to improve. He stressed that early care can make a difference for patients, saying people who seek medical support quickly can survive.
The next measure of the response will be whether health teams can turn the reduced suspected-case backlog into faster tracing, better protection for medical staff and earlier treatment for people who may have been exposed.
Comments (0)