The Ebola outbreak in Africa has claimed more than 5,300 lives, the majority in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of the disease, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
The Democratic Republic of Congo officially declared the outbreak nearly six months ago, on May 15. Experts agree that the virus, which was detected late, had already resurfaced in the country of more than 100 million people several months prior.
The Ebola virus, which is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and causes severe hemorrhagic fever, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. The worst recorded outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo resulted in approximately 2,300 deaths out of 3,500 recorded cases between 2018 and 2020.
According to data obtained by AFP from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Ebola epidemic that spread to other parts of the African continent caused 5,376 deaths, including 5,372 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, two in Uganda, and two in Kenya.
In total, 10,444 cases were reported, with a fatality rate exceeding 50 percent.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment.
In recent weeks, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been using doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which has proven effective against the Zaire strain, the most common in previous outbreaks of the disease, as part of a clinical trial.
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