Five patients have recovered from a rare type of , said the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) this Sunday, 31, during a visit to Bunia, in eastern Congo, a city at the epicenter of the outbreak.
“Four people will be discharged today and one was discharged the day before yesterday,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during the inauguration of a new Ebola treatment center in Bunia, capital of Ituri province.
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“Of course we are still working on vaccines and treatments, but that doesn’t mean people can’t recover from Ebola,” he added.
The WHO reported on Friday the 29th that a patient has recovered from the Bundibugyo virus, the current type of Ebola, for which there is no approved treatment or vaccine. This was the first documented recovery of a patient with confirmed Bundibugyo during the current outbreak.
The health organization said the latest official data shows 906 suspected cases and 223 suspected deaths. Neighboring country Uganda has confirmed nine cases and one death, according to the Ugandan Ministry of Health, on Friday.
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Despite better-organized health facilities and the arrival of new helpers, the virus continues to spread faster than the human response, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Saturday, calling for the immediate expansion of testing, faster deployment of humanitarian workers and continued access to medical supplies.
The dangers faced by health professionals have been compounded by residents’ anger against strict medical protocols for treating victims’ bodies, which conflict with local funeral rites. Residents have already carried out at least three attacks against health centers.
Tedros emphasized the importance of community involvement in responding to the outbreak during the opening of the new treatment center on Sunday.
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“If you seek care at a health center when you experience symptoms, you can receive the support you need and recover. Therefore, the key is to seek help as early as possible and get the support you need,” said the WHO director-general.
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“We can stop Ebola and anyone infected can recover. But the rule is that this is everyone’s responsibility and all citizens must get involved,” he added.
Attacks in the region carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State, and a coalition of ethnic militias also hampered the response.
ADF fighters killed seven people on Saturday in Beni, North Kivu province, an area also affected by the outbreak, the Congolese army and civil society groups said.
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The disease has also been reported in North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group controls many major cities, including Goma and Bukavu.
“The final message we would like to share with the Ituri community is that there is hope,” said Pierre Akilimali, Incident Manager at Congo’s National Institute of Public Health, during the inauguration on Sunday.
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“With the symptomatic treatment we are currently offering, we are seeing patients recover,” Akilimali added.
“We have a lot of hope. The virus here is not as complex as those we have faced in the past, and with the support of all our partners, we believe we will be able to control this outbreak as quickly as possible,” said Davin Ambitapio, another doctor at the treatment center.
