WHO says DR Congo's largest-ever Ebola outbreak has outpaced response capacity

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday warned that the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak has grown beyond the capacity of the current response, calling for urgent financial and operational support to contain its spread.

"The outbreak is expanding beyond the capacity of the response to manage. It is now the largest the country has ever faced," Dr. Vasee Moorthy, acting lead of WHO's R&D Blueprint, told reporters in Geneva.

Moorthy said the response requires more funding and resources to expand treatment capacity, field investigation teams, safe burial teams and community health workers, adding that efforts must focus on areas where the virus is currently spreading and where it is likely to spread next.

As of Aug. 1, the outbreak had caused 3,748 confirmed cases and 1,657 confirmed deaths, with 708 recoveries. Cases have been reported in 49 health zones across five provinces, while around 17,000 contacts are under monitoring, with more than 80% followed up daily.

He said there are currently no proven safe and effective treatments, vaccines or preventive medicines specifically for Bundibugyo Ebola, although early access to supportive care can save lives.

Moorthy added that clinical trials of experimental treatments and a potential post-exposure preventive medicine are underway in Congo, while two Bundibugyo-specific candidate vaccines have entered Phase 1 trials in the UK and Canada.