Ebola outbreak in Congo kills over 1,000

An Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 1,000 people, health authorities confirmed this week, marking a grim milestone in what is now the fastest-growing Ebola epidemic on record. The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, was declared on May 15 and has no approved vaccines or treatments.

According to an update from Congo's public health institute on Wednesday, July 22, there have been 2,536 confirmed cases and 1,033 deaths. At least 737 patients are currently in isolation or hospitalized. The vast majority of cases are concentrated in Ituri province, but the virus has also been confirmed in four other provinces and in neighboring Uganda, where 20 cases and two deaths have been recorded. A single imported case was identified and contained in France in June.

Health officials warn that the true scale of the outbreak could be two to four times larger than official figures indicate. A major challenge is that approximately 80 percent of new cases are emerging from unknown chains of transmission, a sign the virus is spreading faster than responders can track it. Contact tracing continues to lag, with only around 77 percent of...