Labs run out of Ebola tests as virus spreads rapidly to claim over 100 lives
The World Health Organization has said three laboratories in Democratic Republic of Congo have run out of supplies to test for Ebola as the outbreak continues to spread.
In a report release on Tuesday, June 9, the WHO said laboratories in Bukavu and Lwiro in South Kivu province, and Goma in North Kivu, had run out of stock.
The labs were awaiting the arrival of reagents, substances required to run the tests, to continue working on backlogged samples.
There have been almost 600 confirmed cases in the Ebola outbreak, and more than 115 deaths, the Congolese government said on Tuesday. At least 19 cases and two deaths have been recorded in neighbouring Uganda linked to the epidemic.
Testing began slowly because the widely available Ebola tests did not detect the Bundibugyo strain of the virus.
Testing has since been ramped up, led by experts at the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale in Kinshasa, Reuters news agency reported.
But challenges with access remain due to insecurity and armed conflict in the worst-hit provinces.
The Daily Express reported earlier this month that Ebola may have been spreading unchecked in the DRC since January.
Local medical staff have said patient zero arrived at hospital in late January and passed away in February. The Telegraph reported that the patient subsequently infected eight healthcare workers before dying.
Should the outbreak have started as far back as January, many thousands more individuals may have been exposed to the Bundibugyo strain, which is notoriously challenging to control and currently has no licensed vaccines or treatments available.
Just 20 per cent of individuals known to have had close contact with Ebola patients in the DRC since the official outbreak date in April have been contact traced at the time of reporting on June 2.
Thousands remain unaccounted for and the true figure could be far greater if the Bundibugyo strain has been spreading unchecked since January.
express.co.uk
