DRC: Ebola recoveries bring hope to fight against outbreak

Seven people said to have recovered from Ebola were released from a treatment centre in DR Congo on Tuesday, according to local health officials from the humanitarian organization Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA).

Among the survivors is a 16-month-old baby who had contracted the virus, along with his mother.

Dr. Modet Camara, a practicing doctor at ALIMA's Rwampara treatment center said that they performed a PCR test on the baby, given the symptoms he was exhibiting—including unexplained nosebleeds.

“On the second day, the PCR test came back positive for Ebola. Once the result came back positive, we convened a medical committee, suspended the anti-tuberculosis treatment (which he had been taking),” he added.

But this is not the first time. The WHO has previously reported cases of people recovering from the Bundibugyo virus, the current species of Ebola, which has no approved treatment or vaccine.

The first documented recovery of a confirmed Bundibugyo patient during the current outbreak was at the end of May in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.

One month after the official declaration of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the country has recorded 782 confirmed cases of Ebola and 181 deaths in the three provinces affected by the outbreak.

Congolese authorities have reported one of the highest daily increases in Ebola cases in a month-old outbreak as the virus spreads quickly in a remote region whose shifting population challenges efforts to find those exposed.

Despite this situation, some residents still do not believe the outbreak is real.

“I used to be one of those who thought the disease (Ebola) didn’t exist, but I eventually came to believe in it," said Gladisse Munguromo, an Ebola survivor.

"What I say to those who don’t believe it is to keep believing that the disease is real—it’s truly out there."

Rwampara is a community located in the outskirts of the town of Bunia, the epicenter of the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.