By Olivia Le Poidevin and Jennifer Rigby
GENEVA, June 2 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization said there have been 321 confirmed cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo outbreak and 116 suspected cases, marking a large drop in the number of suspected cases as hundreds were ruled out after investigation.
The agency said on Tuesday there had been 48 deaths and six people had recovered in Congo. The Congolese authorities first put out the new case numbers on Monday.
In Uganda there have been nine confirmed cases and one associated death, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva. Later, Uganda’s health ministry confirmed six more new cases of Ebola, bringing the total confirmed in the country so far to 15, the health ministry said on Tuesday. The ministry said in a statement on its X account that the six were confirmed among contacts of other confirmed cases.
The WHO said on Friday that there were 906 suspected cases of the Bundibugyo Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including 223 suspected deaths that were being investigated. Later Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an FT op-ed published on Sunday that more than 1,100 suspected cases were being investigated.
HUNDREDS OF CASES DISCOUNTED AFTER INVESTIGATION
When asked why the latest figures showed a significantly lower number of suspected cases, Lindmeier said the data suggested hundreds of cases had been discounted.
“They have been cleared out and have either other diseases or have just had fever and nothing else,” he said. Lindmeier said the numbers would fluctuate over time as people get tested.
A suspected case includes anyone who is picked up by surveillance or who presents with symptoms at a health centre, he added. Confirmed cases include only those who have tested positive for Ebola Bundibugyo.
Testing has been a challenge in this outbreak as initially the more common tests used for Ebola did not detect the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved vaccine, and capacity has been limited.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website also listed 116 suspected cases, and said: “On May 29, the DRC Ministry of Health updated their total suspect case count to remove suspected cases that have been ruled out after investigation and suspected deaths that are pending the results of ongoing investigation.”
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced the outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak, on May 15, and the World Health Organization swiftly declared it a public health emergency of international concern.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva and Jennifer Rigby in London; additional reporting by Elais Biryabarema; editing by Matthias Williams, Alex Richardson and Tomasz Janowski)
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