'Blind spots' could hide full spread of Congo's Ebola outbreak, WHO suggests
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FILE PHOTO: People walk at the Evangelical Medical Center, one of the facilities at the forefront of the response to the Ebola outbreak, as agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus strain, in Bunia, Ituri p
NAIROBI, June 12 (Reuters) - There are many "blind spots" in the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a World Health Organization expert said on Friday, suggesting the spread of the deadly disease may be much wider than official estimates.
Congo said on Thursday the disease had spread to three new health zones. It reported 676 confirmed cases and 136 deaths in an outbreak that has also spread to neighbouring Uganda.
"There are still many blind spots in some areas that are high risk," Olivier le Polain, a WHO epidemiologist in Beni, eastern Congo, said.
"Surveillance really needs to be strengthened in those areas."
Another big challenge is a shortage of beds that medics can use to isolate patients, he said. There were only 250 across the three affected provinces, he added.
The outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no approved treatment or vaccine.
The disease went undetected for weeks and first responders say they are playing catch-up.
The WHO does not yet have projections for the size of the epidemic, Le Polain said, after the U.S. CDC said it could be on the same level as the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak which caused more than 11,000 deaths.
(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Linda Pasquini and Andrew Heavens)
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