BUNIA — Five patients infected with a rare strain of Ebola have recovered, WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said on Sunday as he visited the epicenter of an outbreak of the disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Tedros said four people who recovered from Ebola would soon be discharged from hospital after another patient patient was allowed to return home on Friday, marking the first documented recovery of a confirmed Bundibugyo patient during the current outbreak, the Associated Press reported. Tedros made the announcement while opening a new Ebola treatment center in the eastern Congolese city of Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, on Sunday. According to the WHO, the strain in the latest Ebola outbreak, known as Bundibugyo for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment, kills up to 50 percent of those infected. On Saturday, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) described the situation as “deeply alarming”, warning that the outbreak had spread faster than any previous outbreak of he disease. In a statement, Alan Gonzalez, MSF’s deputy director of operations, said this strain of the disease was difficult to diagnose because of limited testing capacity. “Never before has an Ebola outbreak recorded so many cases so soon after its declaration,” Gonzalez said. “Like everyone in the affected areas, MSF teams are witnessing a response that has not yet caught up to the rapid spread of the epidemic,” he added. “Unlike most previous Ebola disease outbreaks, this one involves the Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no approved vaccines or specific treatments, and which is particularly difficult to diagnose due to limited testing capacity.” The WHO said the latest official figures show more than 220 suspected deaths and almost 1,000 suspected cases. Uganda, which shares a border with the DRC extending hundreds of kilometres, has reported one death and nine cases.
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