DR Congo Ebola outbreak passes 9,000 cases

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has passed 9,000 reported cases, with 4,381 deaths recorded so far, Congolese health authorities said Tuesday.

The Congolese National Institute of Public Health said 9,066 infections had been recorded in the outbreak, giving a fatality rate of 48.3 percent. It said 2,389 people had recovered.

The DRC officially declared the outbreak, its 17th, in mid-May, though experts believe the virus may have emerged weeks or months earlier. The outbreak began in Ituri, in the northeast, and has spread to seven provinces in the north and east.

The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment. WHO experts said Tuesday that a clinical trial for an Ebola vaccine is expected to begin in the DRC before the end of the month.

Initial doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which has proven effective against the Zaire strain, have been given in recent weeks to frontline volunteers as part of a clinical trial.