More than 130 deaths and 500 suspected cases in DRC

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]I'm joined by Dr. Angelique Coetzee in Johannesburg. She's a medical clinician and former chairperson of the South Africa Medical Association. Doctor, great to have you here with us on TRT World. I want to pick up on what our correspondent was telling us. Yesterday, the number of reported cases were approximately 300, and over the course of the past 24 hours, that number has jumped to 500. So, let me ask you, how concerned are you about this outbreak and the possibility of this Ebola outbreak is spreading internationally?

[00:00:34]Um good morning. Uh we should be concerned, but please not panic. The the rising death toll and the suspected case numbers are serious, especially because uh your DRC's geographic uh the conflict zones, as was mentioned, and the population movement make under-detection very very possible. So, yes, the World Health Organization has declared this a public health emergency of international concern. But it specifically says it's not a pandemic emergency. So, the concern is not only the confirmed numbers, but it's also the possibility of undetected transmission in areas where surveillance is difficult, as we have heard from the pastor just now. Doctor, how contagious is this uh strain of Ebola?

[00:01:31]It's quite contagious. Um it's not as contagious as you um saw or with with your COVID-19.

[00:01:40]Um so, uh I think it's important important to understand that your Ebola, this specific strain, has a period incubation period between 2 to 21 days.

[00:01:51]So, you may feel well initially after you have been exposed um and only develop your symptoms late later on. So, this is why that uh surveillance, that 21-day contact monitoring, your exit screening, your entry screening, and the rapid alert systems is absolutely essential. So, how will I get it easily?

[00:02:12]Mostly from the body fluids.

[00:02:14]Um, and and that is a concern because there's a lot of virus being, um, uh excreted into the body body bodily fluids. Uh, and this is why it puts your health care workers at risk. Uh, also the families that do the burial or look after these patients without knowing that these patients are actually infected at that, you know, with the Ebola virus. And doctor, you know, one thing that really stands out for out for me from the latest developments that have taken place. Uh, for example, an American has also contracted the virus and I understand he's being taken to Germany for treatment. And this really goes to show that the measures on the ground, the health care measures on the ground right now, they're not sufficient.

[00:03:00]Yeah, it is a problem because remember when it was first, um, detected or this specific, um, outbreak, it was the end of last month and it took nearly, um, to between two to three weeks before we are now you know, the World Health Organization started to, um, uh make, you know, it started to pronounce on this going forward. So, that is one of the problems. Uh, so we need to be much more, uh, having strengthened the cross-border surveillance with neighboring countries, also with people leaving the country.

[00:03:36]Remember what I've said, anything between two to 21 days is your incubation period. So, that patient, um, that's now or that American, um, might still have been well when he left, um, without knowing that he had already the, um, symptoms underlying.

[00:03:52]Um, yes, so you need to work also with your local leaders to build the trust and counter any misinformation that's now being spread out there. So the international community, we need to support DRC and Uganda.

[00:04:07]Also, as I've said, a viruses doesn't know any borders. They travel wherever they want to. So yes, so your Ebola is difficult enough in a stable setting. So in a conflict zone, the public health becomes both a medical and a security operation as we have seen now. So it is a problem.

[00:04:28]Doctor, how challenging it would be to treat patients in a conflict zone because DRC is an active conflict zone right now. So what are the biggest challenges facing treatment there?

[00:04:41]So it is very very challenging. As you know, we have seen that the the lack of infrastructure, PPE in this case PPE, you know, the mask, the gown, the the gloves, all of that very very important. So your PPE is important, but also you need to have a proper ICU that's isolated. You need to have infusion. You need to have whatever is needed for that patient including medicine.

[00:05:12]And also the test, the lab test is very very important and we know that there's lacking in this and this is why I've said that the international community should support the DRC at this stage. We need to send supplies to them and make sure that we support if I say we are the international community.

[00:05:35]Fascinating insights, Dr. Angelique Coetzee. Thanks very much for joining us here on TRT World.

[00:05:41]Thank you so much.