-- only three days after the figure topped five hundred. Updated numbers issued by the UN health agency showed there have been 1,759 confirmed cases in DR Congo since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, including 600 confirmed deaths. Two other people have died in neighboring Uganda, where seventeen patients have recovered out of twenty total confirmed cases. "The outbreak continues to expand, and its true scale has not yet been fully established”, Anne Ancia, the WHO's representative in the DRC, said Tuesday. The WHO's figures for the DRC, which come from the health authorities in the vast country, show that the outbreak there has a case fatality rate of 34 percent.

A total of 285 patients in the DRC have recovered, while 304 suspected cases of the viral hemorrhagic fever are under investigation. The outbreak in northeastern DRC has hit four provinces but is focused on Ituri province. The outbreak is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments. The trial of two potential treatments for Bundibugyo began in the DRC on July 2. The trial is evaluating the effectiveness of the monoclonal antibody MBP134 and the antiviral drug remdesivir, alone and in combination. Ebola spreads through close contact and infected bodily fluids. (Bssnews)