BUNIA, Congo (AP) 鈥� Five patients have recovered from a rare type of Ebola, the head of the World Health Organization said Sunday during a visit to eastern Congo鈥檚 Bunia, a city at the heart of .
鈥淔our people will be discharged today and there was one that was discharged the day before yesterday,鈥� WHO Director-General said during the opening of a new Ebola treatment center in Bunia, the provinical capital of Ituri.
鈥淥f course, we鈥檙e still working on vaccines and treatments but that doesn鈥檛 mean that people cannot recover from Ebola,鈥� he added.
The WHO said Friday a patient had recovered from the , the current kind of Ebola, which has no approved treatment or vaccine. It was the first documented recovery of a confirmed Bundibugyo patient during the current outbreak.
The health organization said latest official figures showed 906 suspected cases and 223 suspected deaths. Neighboring Uganda has confirmed nine cases and one death, the Ugandan Health Ministry said Friday.
The virus continues to spread faster than the response despite better-organized health facilities and new aid arrivals, Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, said Saturday, calling for the immediate expansion of testing, faster deployment of aid workers and sustained access for medical supplies.
The by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for handling the victims鈥� bodies, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least against health centers.
Tedros stressed the importance of involving the community in the outbreak response during the opening of the new treatment center on Sunday.
鈥淚f you come to health facilities when you have symptoms, you can get the support and recover, so the key is to come forward as early as possible and to get the necessary support,” the WHO chief said.
鈥淲e can stop this Ebola and anyone who has it can also recover. But the rule … is this thing is everybody鈥檚 business and every citizen should be involved,鈥� he added.
Attacks in Ituri by the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias have also hindered the response.
The illness also has been reported in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases.
鈥淭he final message we would like to share with the Ituri community is that there is hope,鈥� Pierre Akilimali, Incident Manager at Congo’s National Institute of Public Health, said during the inauguration on Sunday.
鈥淲ith the symptomatic treatment that we are currently providing, we are seeing patients recover,鈥� Akilimali added.
鈥淲e truly have hope. The virus here is not as complicated as those we have dealt with in the past, and with the support of all our partners, we believe we will be able to bring this outbreak under control as quickly as possible,鈥� said Davin Ambitapio, another doctor at the treatment center.
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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.
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