The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Ebola outbreak is set to spread even further within the next a few weeks, an official warn.
Peter Salama, emergency response chief at the World Health Organization (WHO), warns the combination of rebel violence and pre-election unrest is creating a ‘perfect storm’ for an even worse epidemic.
Armed opposition attacks in North Kivu province, which has been hit by the outbreak, have risen in recent weeks.
The WHO has even been forced to evacuate the town of Beni, where the outbreak started, due to a deadly raid, according to Dr Salama.
Fears and misconceptions about the virus are also being exploited by politicians ahead of the DRC’s December election, which is causing the public to lose faith in health workers, he added.
At least 142 people have been infected with Ebola in the outbreak around the North Kivu region in the north-east of Democratic Republic of the Congo since it was first declared on August 1 – the city of Beni has been the centre of the current outbreak
‘We are now extremely concerned that several factors may be coming together over the next weeks to months to create a perfect storm.
‘The response at this stage is at a critical juncture,’ Dr Salama said.
He has also warned the areas affected by the outbreak are expanding, notably to border areas, with Uganda facing ‘an imminent threat.’
The outbreak, the 10th in the DRC’s history, has killed at least 97 people since it was declared on August 1 in the eastern part of North Kivu, according to the WHO.
This comes after health officials confirmed earlier this month Ebola was responsible for the death of a woman in Butembo, which has a population of around 1.4 million.
In response, Dr Salama said ‘no-one should be sleeping well tonight around the world’.
Local reports claim the unnamed woman was the mother of a known Ebola patient, who travelled from the town at the centre of the outbreak.
Experimental drugs have been shipped into the area to control the virus, which is considered to be one of the most lethal pathogens in existence.
But virologists have repeatedly warned the situation is ‘hard to control’ due to cases occurring in a conflict zone roamed by armed militias.
The WHO has admitted the latest death makes ending the outbreak in the east of the country significantly harder.
Butembo’s mayor revealed the victim was a woman, who was likely infected as a result of her participating in an unsafe burial. She died in a university clinic.
But the DRC’s Ministry of Health claims it was a man from a nearby town at the centre of the outbreak, who refused to cooperate with health authorities.
‘Ebola case from Beni has died in Butembo DRC,’ Dr Salama wrote on Twitter.
‘Good news is case detected quickly, response already in place and expanding. Bad new(s) is increases risk of further spread.’
He told the HuffPost: ‘When you have an Ebola case confirmed in a city with one million people, no one should be sleeping well tonight around the world.’
However, he added that having Ebola in urban centres, such as Butembo, makes ending the ongoing outbreak much harder.
An Ebola patient is pictured being led to be treated by medical workers in Beni: Since the outbreak began, 5,088 people are thought to have come into contact with people who have the virus and at least 19 medical workers have been infected
Most of the Ebola cases recorded so far have been in Beni, a city of 230,000 people with close links to bordering Uganda.
Butembo, about 35 miles (55km) away, is around triple the size of Beni and is a major trading route for consumer goods entering the DRC.
There are at least two other suspected cases of the Ebola in the city but these have not yet been confirmed, according to local reports.
Only 96 of the cases in North Kivu province have been confirmed. The rest remain probable due to the Ebola-like symptoms.
The virus has since spread to Oicha, an area almost entirely surrounded by militants, which stoked the fears of Dr Tedros Adhanom, chief of the WHO.
He previously told Reuters: ‘If one case is hidden in the red zone or an inaccessible area, it’s dangerous. It can just spark a fire, just one case.’
The International Rescue Committee, which responds to humanitarian crises, fears an outbreak will trump the pandemic four years ago, which killed 11,000 and decimated West Africa.
A spokesperson from the agency said: ‘Without a swift, concerted and efficient response, this outbreak has the potential to be the worst ever seen.’
Ebola virus disease, caused by the virus with its namesake, kills around 50 per cent of the people it strikes, with no proven treatment being available.
Some 97 people have died in the most recent Ebola outbreak, which is occurring in the North Kivu province in the north-east of Democratic Republic of the Congo. Pictured: Health workers carry the body of a suspected victim on August 22, in Mangina, a town near Beni
The unsafe burial of a 65-year-old Ebola sufferer triggered the latest outbreak in the DRC, according to the WHO.
After she was buried members of her family began to display symptoms of the virus ‘and seven of them died’.
Genetic analysis confirmed the virus is the Zaire strain; the same as the one that was behind an outbreak in the west of the DRC earlier this summer.
However, Dr Salama has argued the newer pathogen is genetically different to previous strains.
The 2014 international response to the Ebola pandemic, which decimated West Africa, drew criticism for moving too slowly and prompted an apology from the WHO.
But international aid teams have moved much quicker in response this time, with vaccination campaigns already underway in several regions.