CIDRAP News: Ebola treatment trials move to hot spot centers
“Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced [Tuesday] that an ongoing trial of four experimental Ebola treatments will begin enrolling participants at treatment centers in Katwa and Butembo, the current hot spots in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC’s) seven-month-long Ebola outbreak. The trial, which began last November at another location, aims to identify the most effective of four Ebola treatments — Remdesivir, mAb114, REGN-EB3, and ZMapp…” (Soucheray, 2/12).

Deutsche Welle: DRC neighbors still on alert over Ebola virus
“More than 500 people have died as a result of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of [the] Congo (DRC), but the vaccination program has prevented thousands more deaths, the Congolese ministry of health has said. Authorities and aid groups have been fighting against Ebola in the volatile eastern region of the country, where numerous militia groups still operate. … The security situation in the east of the country, where armed rebels have terrorized the population for years, has made it difficult to treat and control the disease. … DRC’s ministry of health said that more than 77,000 people had been vaccinated against the virus since August 2018. Yet the aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported another surge of the virus in mid-January, and neighboring Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan are all on alert…” (Wanjiru, 2/12).

wbur: Aid Worker In Congo Describes ‘Tackling An Ebola Crisis In A War Zone’
“The charity Save the Children said this week that the number of new Ebola cases in Congo spiked last month. The country’s health ministry says there have been more than 800 cases and more than 500 deaths. Here & Now’s Robin Young talks with Jamie LeSueur, head of Ebola operations in Congo for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies” (Young, 2/12).