The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is likely to persist into next year due to the sheer volume of infections, according to Amsterdam tropical medicine specialist Martin Grobusch, after the death toll reached 702 among 1,926 confirmed cases.
Contact tracing, rather than vaccination, remains the primary containment tool because the Bundibugyo strain has neither an approved vaccine nor a specific therapy. Authorities are tracking roughly 90 percent of identified contacts as high-risk exposures, while 318 patients have recovered.
Clinical trials of the antiviral treatments MBP134 and remdesivir have been under way since early July. Meanwhile, a U.S. physician infected in Congo was evacuated for treatment in Frankfurt, highlighting the international dimensions of the crisis.