Ebola – Democratic Republic of the Congo

24: Situation report on the Ebola outbreak in North Kivu 16 January 2019
[Excerpts]
1. Situation update
…As of 14 January 2019, a cumulative total of 402 deaths were reported, including 353 deaths among confirmed cases. The case fatality ratio among confirmed cases is 58% (353/609). Since 1 December 2018, 36% (72/202) of cases have occurred in children <15 years of age. Of these, 16 cases were <1 year of age. A total of 29 pregnant women have been reported so far. To date, 57 infected healthcare workers (including 20 deaths) have been reported, with an additional laboratory worker and a nurse identified retrospectively during the last reporting week. On 14 January 2019, one death among a healthcare worker occurred in Katwa Health Zone.

…Case management
On 24 November 2018, MoH announced the launch of a randomized control trial for Ebola therapeutics. This first-ever multi-drug randomized control trial within an outbreak setting is an important step towards finding an effective evidence-based treatment for Ebola. The trial is coordinated by WHO and led and sponsored by the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) which is the principal investigator. The trial has begun in the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) ETC in Beni, where patients are enrolled in the study after obtaining voluntary informed consent. MSF treatment centres are also preparing to launch the trial at their sites in the near future.

Until other ETCs are ready to launch the trial, they will continue to provide therapeutics under the Monitored Emergency Use of Unregistered Interventions (MEURI) (compassionate use) protocol, in collaboration with the MoH and the INRB, together with supportive care measures. WHO continues to provide technical clinical expertise on-site at all treatment centres. UNICEF is providing nutritional treatment and psychological support for all hospitalized patients…

…Implementation of ring vaccination protocol
As of 14 January 2019, a total of 60,460 individuals have been vaccinated since the start of the outbreak.