Despite a decline in new cases, the World Health Organization cannot assess whether the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is stabilized due to the challenge of identifying new cases in conflict-ridden red zones, according to Reuters.
WHO Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus discussed the difficulty of tracking the outbreak in these conflict areas during an Aug. 28 news conference.
"If one case is hidden in the red zone or an inaccessible area, it's dangerous," he told Reuters. "It can just spark a fire, just one case."
Health officials have reported 112 confirmed and probable Ebola cases, along with 75 deaths, linked to the latest outbreak, which started Aug. 1, according to the data released by the Congo's health ministry.
Current response efforts have been catalyzed by experimental vaccines. So far, about 4,500 health workers and individuals who've had contact with Ebola patients have been vaccinated. About 17 patients have also received the new treatments.
"Now we have vaccines, and we have therapeutics and no one should really die of Ebola. But for this to happen first of all we need to identify cases as early as possible," Dr. Tedros told Reuters.
The WHO is asking numerous countries, local religious leaders and chiefs to negotiate with rebel groups for access to red zones to better identify and treat Ebola patients.