BUNIA, Congo — Deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak have topped 5,000, the latest government data showed on Saturday, as cases are recorded in other African countries and experts question whether authorities can contain the virus, the Associated Press reported. Data from the Congolese Ministry of Health showed the disease has killed 5,026 people out of 10,351 infected, at a lethality rate of nearly 50%. Reuters likewise reported that Ebola deaths in Congo had exceeded 5,000 on the government's figures.

Source: Associated Press via Medical Xpress

The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, was declared in mid-May and caught authorities by surprise. It is already the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, behind only the West Africa outbreak of 2014 to 2016, which killed about 11,000 people across multiple countries. So far 2,788 people have recovered. The Bundibugyo virus has no known vaccine or specific treatment, so health workers treat patients based on their symptoms.

"It is a very tragic milestone because it is just not a number," said Dr Patrick Otim, a programme area manager with the World Health Organization. "It is families and communities that have been devastated by this outbreak. The number also shows the severity of this outbreak."

One in three who died never reached care

Since May the disease has spread to 67 of the country's 178 health zones in eight of 26 provinces, and 50 of those 67 zones have active cases. The virus is concentrated in the east, especially Ituri and North Kivu, which together account for 9,782 confirmed cases and 4,792 deaths. According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, about 80% of new cases are coming from outside the chain of monitored contacts — meaning most new infections come from transmission chains health authorities do not know about. One-third of recorded deaths were people who died outside treatment centres, before being tested, Otim said. "These are people we never had opportunity to try to save them and it is one of the biggest concerns for us in this outbreak," he said.

The response is being hampered on several fronts, the AP reported. Eastern Congo is also a conflict zone, with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group and an Islamist insurgency by the Allied Democratic Forces limiting health workers' reach; disbelief among parts of the population has led to attacks on health workers and facilities, and a nurse was killed last week while responding to an Ebola alert. Health workers have also gone on strike over unpaid wages — on Friday, workers at a treatment centre in Tchomia, in Ituri, downed tools demanding four months of unpaid salaries, at a centre then caring for five confirmed and 10 suspected patients. "Across Ituri and North Kivu, this outbreak is stretching everyone responding to it, including the communities themselves," said Rose Tchwenko, country director for the DRC at Prosper Global, formerly Mercy Corps.

In October, both Kenya and Nigeria confirmed Ebola cases — Kenya has confirmed eight cases and two deaths, and Nigeria's sole confirmed case was evacuated to Switzerland. With earlier cases in Uganda, the AP said this is the first Ebola outbreak recorded across three African regions and the continent's most geographically widespread. What happens next depends on whether contact tracing and testing can catch up with transmission that is currently running mostly outside the monitored chains.