By Zachary Stieber
Contributing Writer
The number of possible cases in the Ebola outbreak in central Africa has dropped significantly in recent days, with most suspected cases being ruled out.
Authorities in Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak, on May 26 had listed more than 1,000 suspected cases and 121 confirmed patients.
As of Sunday, there were just 116 suspected cases, along with 321 confirmed cases, Congo’s Ministry of Communication said in a Monday statement.
The update removed suspected cases “that have been ruled out after investigation,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on its website.
Suspected cases refer to people who authorities believe could be infected with Ebola due to the presence of certain symptoms, World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters during a Tuesday briefing.
Those people are tested. If results come back negative, they are removed from the list of suspected cases. If the results are positive, the cases are moved from the suspected case list to the confirmed case list.
The hundreds of suspected cases removed from the list “have been cleared out and have either other diseases or have just had fever and nothing else,” he said.
Malaria is among the diseases that share symptoms with Ebola. Symptoms include fever, diarrhea, and unexplained bleeding. In the few previous outbreaks caused by the Bundibugyo virus, the rare strain of ebolavirus that is behind the outbreak, the case fatality rate has ranged from 30% to 50%.
Congolese authorities said on Monday that 48 people who had confirmed Ebola have died, and six have recovered. Lindmeier said that the death count does not include people who died a long time ago, because authorities are not going to dig up bodies to test them.
The outbreak was detected in May, weeks after the first known patient died. Initial testing was not equipped to identify the Bundibugyo virus, according to African and international officials. There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the virus.
The outbreak has prompted travel restrictions as far away as the United States, but has primarily been confined to northeastern Congo.
The best-case scenario is containing the virus in the three provinces that have confirmed cases, Dr. Samuel Roger Kamba, Congo’s health minister, told reporters in a recent briefing.
“The epidemic remains active and continues to spread,” Congo’s Ministry of Communication said on Monday. Efforts to prevent further spread involve isolating suspected patients and tracing their contacts.
Uganda’s Ministry of Health on Tuesday said it confirmed six new cases, bringing the total in Congo’s neighbor to 15. One of the patients has died, and two have been discharged.
