Thousands of displaced people have fled the Kigonze camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after security forces entered the site and clashes followed, disrupting efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak. UN senior Ebola coordinator Julien Harneis said Thursday, October 1, that the camp in Ituri province, which had sheltered about 19,000 people, was now abandoned. Health officials told Reuters that many people potentially exposed to the virus had left without being located.
Congolese and health officials said troops had gone to the camp to search for weapons and that residents fled during clashes over the preceding week. The evacuation adds a security crisis to the public health emergency in Ituri, the province hardest hit by the current outbreak. The World Health Organization says the outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, was confirmed in Congo and Uganda in May.
Two health officials familiar with the camp told Reuters that approximately 1,000 people identified as Ebola contacts had been living there. One said teams had since traced only about one fifth of them. That estimate concerns contacts, not confirmed infections; the whereabouts and health status of the others have not been established in the report. Locating exposed people is central to monitoring symptoms and interrupting transmission.
The UN said an Ebola transit centre at the site, where suspected patients could be isolated, tested and treated, had also burned down. The UN refugee agency told Reuters that displacement sites in Congo had recorded 88 confirmed Ebola cases and 56 deaths, including cases linked to Kigonze, and cautioned that the figures were probably low. Reuters reported earlier that more than 30 people had died at Kigonze in just over a month, many from Ebola.
The WHO's figures for September 29 listed 8,224 confirmed cases and 3,982 confirmed deaths in Congo. WHO says the Bundibugyo outbreak has no licensed vaccine or specific treatment, although candidates are being studied. It is supporting surveillance, contact tracing, clinical care and community engagement. The movement of residents from the camp could make those tasks harder and raises concern about further spread, though no new infections caused by this flight have been confirmed.
Humanitarian and health teams now face the task of finding displaced contacts and restoring access to testing and care while security conditions remain difficult. The UN and Congolese authorities have not reported where all former Kigonze residents went. Updated tracing and case reports will show whether responders can reconnect with exposed families and limit additional transmission.
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