Testing for Ebola has ground to a halt at three laboratories in Democratic Republic of Congo after facilities ran out of essential supplies, according to the World Health Organization.
The WHO reported Tuesday that testing facilities in Bukavu and Lwiro located in South Kivu province, along with a lab in Goma in North Kivu, have depleted their inventory of reagents needed to conduct virus tests. Officials said these laboratories are waiting for new shipments of the chemical substances required to process accumulated samples.
The health agency has not yet responded to inquiries about the number of samples waiting to be processed or whether new supplies have been delivered since the June 7 data collection.
The Congolese government announced Tuesday evening that the current Ebola outbreak has produced nearly 600 confirmed infections and claimed more than 115 lives. The epidemic has also spread across the border, with 19 cases and two fatalities reported in neighboring Uganda. The WHO has designated this outbreak as an international public health emergency.
Initial testing efforts faced delays because standard Ebola diagnostic tools could not identify the Bundibugyo virus strain. However, testing capabilities have expanded significantly under the leadership of specialists at the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale in Kinshasa. Security concerns and armed conflicts in the most affected regions continue to create access difficulties.
Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director of INRB, stated that diagnostic capabilities have substantially improved, with regional laboratories now able to provide same-day results.
During a Wednesday online briefing, he expressed concern that other aspects of the outbreak response are lagging behind, especially efforts to build trust with affected communities and help them implement protective measures. Drawing from experience with 16 previous Ebola outbreaks in the country, he emphasized this as a crucial lesson.
“For the moment I am a bit disappointed, because I don’t see in practice these experiences on the ground,” he said. “It seemed we have to learn again how to involve the community in this outbreak.”
