KINSHASA, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is showing signs of slowing in some areas, but grim challenges persist, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have warned.
"While transmission is going down overall, new hotspots continue to appear, including in areas close to the border with South Sudan," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing Wednesday.
According to the latest figures released Wednesday by the DRC health authorities, the outbreak had recorded 8,728 confirmed cases and 4,205 deaths as of Oct. 6.
The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, has affected 64 health zones across seven provinces since it was declared in mid-May.
UNEVEN EPIDEMIC TRENDS
On Thursday, Africa CDC reported that confirmed cases had declined by 24 percent in Ituri, the outbreak's epicenter, and 19 percent in North Kivu province over the past three weeks, compared with the previous three-week period.
Wessam Mankoula, an Africa CDC official, cautioned that the declines should be interpreted carefully, as insecurity and community resistance continued to hamper surveillance and reporting in several affected areas.
Of the 64 affected health zones, 47 continued to report active transmission, while 11 had recorded no new cases for more than 42 days, he said.
Community deaths remain a major concern. According to Africa CDC, between 60 and 70 percent of reported Ebola deaths continue to occur outside health facilities, while shortcomings in contact tracing suggest that many infections remain undetected.
"Of course, there is some of the underreporting," Mankoula said, stressing that the official figures did not capture every infection.
Tedros also warned that contact tracing remained below the level required to contain transmission, despite significant improvements in surveillance and community engagement.
CROSS-BORDER SPREAD RAISES CONCERN
The regional threat posed by the outbreak has become increasingly evident following Kenya's confirmation of its first imported Ebola case.
The patient, a 40-year-old Kenyan businessman who had lived in the DRC, developed symptoms in September and sought treatment at several health facilities before traveling to Nairobi on Oct. 3 via Uganda, according to Africa CDC.
Tests later confirmed infection with the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, and he died on Monday.
Kenyan authorities were monitoring 55 contacts, including passengers and crew members aboard the flight from Uganda's capital Kampala to Nairobi, Tedros said Wednesday.
Africa CDC said health authorities from the DRC, Uganda and Kenya had held a joint meeting to reconstruct the patient's travel history and coordinate contact tracing across the three countries.
Both WHO and Africa CDC advised against blanket travel restrictions, emphasizing the importance of screening, early detection, contact tracing and information sharing.
"Transparency should be rewarded, not punished," Tedros said, commending Kenya for promptly reporting the case.
VACCINE, TREATMENT TRIALS ADVANCE
Though no vaccine or treatment specifically approved for Bundibugyo virus disease is currently available, efforts to develop them are making progress.
Africa CDC announced Thursday that Phase Ib clinical trials of a vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford had begun in Uganda on Oct. 6, while another candidate developed by Moderna had received ethical approval for Phase Ib trials in the country.
The Africa CDC said the DRC had received 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which is approved for use against the Zaire Ebola virus but has not been proven effective against the Bundibugyo virus.
Under a protocol-governed compassionate-use program, 7,775 healthcare and other frontline workers had been vaccinated as of Oct. 7. Another 848 frontline workers had received the vaccine under a separate research protocol known as BRAVO, although vaccination under that program has been suspended due to supply shortages.
Clinical trials of experimental treatments are also progressing, with 654 participants enrolled in therapeutic trials, according to Africa CDC.
Tedros said the advances reflected months of work by communities, health authorities and international partners, but warned that the epidemic continued to unfold against the backdrop of a prolonged humanitarian crisis.
According to Africa CDC, the ongoing outbreak is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record, the second-largest worldwide and the largest ever recorded in the DRC.
