Kenya has recorded its first Ebola death. Today we're going to be very careful about what that does and doesn't mean. First, some context. In mid-May, the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared an outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a strain with no approved vaccine or treatment. It's since spread to seven provinces, with Ituri the hardest hit. On October 2nd, the health minister said the peak had passed. But deaths have kept coming every day, and Doctors Without Borders has warned of a surge in North Kivu, where treatment centres are full. This is Ebola Watch, and I want a straight answer. Does one death in Kenya change anything for someone holding a plane ticket? We'll get there. Plus France's new money, and what stands between it and a clinic. First, Kenya. This one's from RFI:
France has decided to allocate an additional €7 million this year to combat the Ebola epidemic currently ravaging the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This comes as Kenya announced its first-ever death from the disease.
Kenya has its first Ebola death. The man was treated in Congo, went by road to Kampala, then flew into Nairobi on October 3rd and died Monday night. So, Cera: if my kid's in Kenya, is the answer different today? It's one confirmed case, and an imported one. Health Minister Aden Duale says twenty-eight contacts are listed, family and health workers, and so far the only positive test is the man himself. So far. And the U.S. entry ban that runs through Sunday covers Congo, Uganda and South Sudan. I don't see anything saying whether Kenya gets folded in. Nothing on that yet. What I'm watching is that he crossed two borders sick. Kinshasa, Kampala and Nairobi all have to share one contact list now, and fast, or twenty-eight turns into a guessing game. Meanwhile France adds seven million euros, twenty-three million for the year, after Barrot toured a treatment centre in Bunia. Nice photo. I want to know which warehouse that money's sitting in. Hold that question. We'll get to exactly where supplies get stuck later in the show. From Demócrata:
The National Institute of Public Health (INSP) has detailed that to date, 8,603 infections and 4,148 deaths have been recorded, including 59 new cases and 34 fatalities in the last 24 hours, which places the fatality rate at 48.2%. The agency has added that 896 people remain hospitalized or in isolation centers, while 2,235 have been discharged after overcoming the disease.
Fifty-nine new cases and thirty-four deaths in a single day. Cera, does that sound like a peak in the rearview mirror to you? It's one day's data, so I won't call it a verdict. INSP's latest is 8,603 confirmed cases and 4,148 deaths, with the fatality rate holding at 48.2 percent. Back on October 3rd it was 8,544 and 4,114. So the curve's still climbing. Okay, but the number that actually got under my skin is contact tracing at 79.7 percent, and INSP says it's been sliding. So roughly one in five contacts... nobody's following up? And UNICEF says more than nineteen hundred kids have lost a parent or caregiver, or been separated from one. Roughly one in five, yes. And look at where the cases are landing. Ituri, up near the Ugandan border, holds 75 percent of all cases but only 39 percent of yesterday's. The new infections are spreading across the other six provinces, from the Kivus up to the Ueles. That's a wider map for tracers who are already falling behind. From Logistics Cluster:
The Logistics and Telecommunications Cluster aims to support an effective Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) through coordination, information management, and the provision of temporary common logistics and emergency telecommunications services.
So France's seven million euros from the piece we just heard. Where does that money physically land? Because this Logistics Cluster plan from October 5th reads like a map of everywhere it gets stuck. It names the choke points plainly: customs holding shipments, not enough storage, roads trucks can't get down, telecom gaps. A dose cleared in Kinshasa still has to reach a nurse in Butembo, up in North Kivu, and any one of those steps can stall it. Wait, telecom? In an outbreak where tracking down contacts is basically the whole game? And the plan only promises temporary services 'where resources permit,' which is where the budget fight lives. Right, a tracer who can't phone in a contact list is working blind. One dating note: the plan's figures, 8,067 confirmed cases and 3,901 deaths across sixty-three health zones in seven provinces, only run through September 26th. Treat them as background. Today's count is higher. Democracy Now! writes:
Chomachoma describes the strain on the underfunded Congolese healthcare system as the disease spreads. Many frontline workers have not been paid for months. "We are seeing this outbreak emerge, and really unfurl, in a setting of decreased global health support," says Craig Spencer, a doctor and public health expert based in the United States who contracted Ebola while on a medical mission to Guinea in 2014.
Democracy Now's headline says Trump's USAID cuts 'fuel' this outbreak. That's a big verb for a headline, so I want to know who's actually saying it. The program itself is more careful. It says health authorities believe this began in January and went undetected until May, partly because of cuts like the dismantling of USAID. 'Partly' is the word I'd hold onto. And Craig Spencer, the doctor who caught Ebola in Guinea in 2014, says the U.S. 'has not shown up' the way it did in past outbreaks. That's his read. He's earned it, but it's his. What stays with me is from Bunia. Congolese journalist Akilimali Chomachoma says many frontline workers haven't been paid in months. And the program counts at least 50 health workers among the dead. Unpaid for months, in Ituri, in the middle of this. Who's still showing up? A lot of them, somehow. And one more dating note: their 'more than 8,300 cases' comes from an earlier cutoff than INSP's October 6 total of 8,603. Same outbreak, different day on the calendar. So France's extra seven million we just hit? Some of that had better turn into a paycheck in Bunia. If you found today's briefing useful, please subscribe or leave a review wherever you're listening. Reviews help other people find Ebola Watch, and they help us keep bringing you clear, timely updates.
We'll be watching test results and monitoring for the 28 contacts Kenya listed after its first Ebola death, including family members and healthcare workers. Links to every story are in the show notes, so dig into whichever ones caught your ear. That's Ebola Watch for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.