Congolese health authorities are working to track down people who may have been exposed to Ebola in two provinces that had not previously been part of the current outbreak, raising new fears about the virus spreading even further, according to a health ministry report and a senior health official.
Since the outbreak was officially declared on May 15, the virus has infected 1,307 people and claimed 377 lives across the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu, based on government figures released Monday.
In Tshopo province, health workers are now attempting to identify everyone who may have come into contact with the body of a pregnant woman who died from Ebola. The woman first became ill on June 18 while in the Niania health zone in Ituri province and passed away on June 27. Her body was then transported roughly 300 kilometers west by motorcycle to the city of Kisangani in the neighboring Tshopo province, where a sample collected at a morgue came back positive for Ebola, according to a health ministry report dated June 29.
Officials noted that the body passed through multiple health zones before the Ebola diagnosis was confirmed, creating what they described as a high risk of transmission. Contact-tracing operations have since been launched throughout the province.
In a separate development, a senior health official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity — because he is not authorized to speak with the media — said two individuals who had been identified as contacts of Ebola patients in Niania and placed in isolation for testing had escaped to Haut-Uele province.
Like Tshopo, Haut-Uele borders Ituri. It also shares international borders with South Sudan and the Central African Republic, raising additional concerns about potential cross-border spread.
The official confirmed that one of the two individuals tested positive for Ebola, while the other was still awaiting the results of a follow-up confirmatory test. Both individuals have since been located and are being brought back to Niania, the official said, as health teams work to identify anyone they may have come into contact with during their time in Haut-Uele.
