Congo's Ebola Outbreak Becomes Deadliest in Its History
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed every previous outbreak in the country’s history by deaths, days after the World Health Organization warned it was on track to do so. Aid agencies say responders still lack the resources to keep pace with a virus spreading across six provinces. The WHO and Britain have pledged a stepped-up response.
Congo has fought Ebola more often than any other nation and beaten it back each time, which makes this milestone especially grim: the country’s accumulated expertise, and the vaccines that did not exist in earlier decades, have still not been enough to outrun this outbreak. The failure is one of access as much as medicine — insecurity, displacement and mistrust have kept vaccinators from the communities that need them, and Oxfam’s warning of a resources shortfall suggests the world’s attention is elsewhere. The longer the epidemic runs, the greater the danger it reaches a major city or crosses a border. Watch whether the promised international surge materialises in time to bend the curve.