DRC attempts to contain Ebola with new medical tools in conflict

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has experienced another Ebola outbreak, its tenth since the first identification of the virus in 1976. This latest outbreak began in early August in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the rate of mortality is 70%.

But this epidemic is very different from the one that devastated West Africa a few years ago.

Experimental treatments

Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health highlights the experimental treatments for people with Ebola, something that did not exist during the outbreak in West Africa.

"We have five drugs available, three of which are actively used," he said.

The cells of our blood, called B cells, fight infections. Two of the experimental treatments involved copies of B-cell antibodies capable of fighting the Ebola virus.

"A person was infected during the Kikwit epidemic in 1995 in the DRC," said Fauci. "The person recovered from Ebola and we brought the person here to the United States to NIH. We drew their blood. We cloned B cells and then we made the antibody.

The treatment is called the monoclonal antibody 114. Fauci says it is given to Ebola patients in the DRC.

"So far, at least 13 people have been vaccinated and 11 of them have left the hospital," he said.

Many more people need to receive this treatment – and the other two – before knowing if any of them are actually working.

"We are proposing a trial to compare a treatment to another treatment to another treatment," said Fauci.

Another tool that doctors have this time around is a vaccine that protects people from the Ebola virus. The vaccine was not available at the height of the epidemic in West Africa.

WATCH: DRC attempts to contain Ebola with new medical tools in conflict

Frustrating factors

But, there are other factors in this epidemic that thwart efforts to fight the Ebola virus:

The epidemic is in a conflict zone, so health workers can not reach everyone who needs treatment or a vaccine.

Some people in Butembo, which has more than a million inhabitants, have contracted the Ebola virus.

The epidemic is located near Rwanda and Uganda, and people commute between countries to sell and trade goods, so they can also spread the Ebola virus.

Despite advances in medicine, cases continue to increase, but not as fast as in West Africa. Yet, Fauci and others are very concerned.