Overview
- Health authorities say the outbreak declared in mid-May has produced about 1,400 confirmed infections and roughly 438 deaths, with cases concentrated in Ituri and reported in North Kivu, South Kivu, Kisangani and Uganda.
- Researchers began enrolling the first patient on Thursday in a WHO-supported randomized treatment trial that will test experimental MBP134 antibodies and Gilead’s remdesivir.
- The trial will assign patients to receive MBP134, remdesivir, both or neither alongside standard supportive care and could take months and as many as 1,000 participants to show whether either drug improves survival.
- Response teams face repeated attacks on health sites, community mistrust that drives patients away and large displacement, leaving isolation centers short of beds, protective gear and staff and forcing some suspected cases to flee care.
- Public-health officials warn that strained services and missed routine care raise the risk of more deaths from malaria and other diseases, and they say expanding testing, contact tracing and safe treatment access will be critical to control.