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Ebola Outbreak Alert: Deadly Strain Spreads in DRC and Uganda
Health authorities are sounding the alarm as an Ebola outbreak spreads rapidly, claiming over 130 lives and infecting nearly 600 individuals, including one American.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed “deep concern about the scale and speed of the epidemic,” noting that the rare strain of Ebola involved carries a mortality rate of up to 50 percent.
Experts and aid workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo reported that the virus had been spreading unnoticed for weeks after the initial deaths were recorded. This occurred because officials were testing for the more common Ebola strain and repeatedly received negative results.
The current outbreak involves the Ebola strain known as Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD), for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment.
US Response and Travel Restrictions
The CDC has upgraded its travel advisory for the DRC to level 3, urging Americans to “reconsider nonessential travel.”
The agency also announced enhanced screening and monitoring for individuals arriving from areas affected by Ebola outbreaks, and is restricting entry for non-US passport holders who have been in Uganda, the DRC, or South Sudan within the past 21 days.
The outbreak has resulted in at least 136 deaths, with nearly 600 suspected cases now reported across the DRC and Uganda. Ghebreyesus said officials “expect those numbers to keep increasing.”
He added that the risk of further spread within those countries is high at both national and regional levels, but remains low at the global level.
World Health Organization staff members load medical supplies, including PPE, testing kits and body bags, onto a plane destined for Bunia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help combat the Ebola outbreak
Guards stand outside the Rodolphe Merieux Laboratory, National Biomedical Research Institute (INRB), where samples from suspected Ebola cases are being tested in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Risk to the US Public and Traveler Guidance
CDC officials stated that the risk to the general U.S. public remains low but advised travelers to the area to avoid contact with any sick individuals.
The CDC also recommended that travelers watch for Ebola symptoms for 21 days after leaving the DRC.
Infected American Doctor and Evacuations
An American doctor working in the DRC has tested positive for the virus, and six other American workers are feared to have been exposed. They are all being evacuated to Germany and the Czech Republic for medical care.
World Cup Concerns and CDC Measures
Concerns in the U.S. are rising because the DRC’s men’s soccer team is scheduled to travel to the U.S. and play in the World Cup in Houston, Texas, against Portugal on June 17.
CDC officials did not provide specifics about screening and procedures ahead of the World Cup, but said the agency is “actively working with FIFA to ensure safe traveling and passage” and to ensure “the American public remains safe throughout” the competition.
Local Impact and Ongoing Efforts
However, a resident of the DRC’s Ituri province told the BBC that infected individuals were dying “very fast” and that “Ebola has tortured us.”
The CDC is also sending personal protective equipment and deploying additional resources to the DRC and Uganda to provide “direct technical assistance for aggressive disease tracking and contact tracing.”
The WHO reported that the first known suspected case, a health worker in the DRC, developed symptoms on April 24, but “patient zero” has not been identified, according to Dr. Anne Ancia, head of the WHO team in the DRC, who spoke to AP.
Health workers are seen at an Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, Congo
Outbreak History and Context
This marks the 17th Ebola outbreak in the DRC, where the virus is endemic, since it was first discovered in 1976, but it is only the third caused by the Bundibugyo strain.
The other two BVD outbreaks occurred in 2007 and 2012.
The most recent Ebola outbreaks in the DRC took place in 2018 and 2020, each killing more than 1,000 people. The largest Ebola outbreak occurred from 2014 to 2016 in West Africa, when more than 28,600 cases were reported.
The WHO has stated that the current outbreak does not meet the criteria of a pandemic, but it is classified as a “public health emergency of international concern.”
Countries sharing borders with the DRC, such as Uganda and Rwanda, face an increased risk of further spread.
Transmission, Symptoms, and Treatment
Ebola spreads through contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person, as well as through contaminated objects or infected animals such as bats or primates.
Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain and weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and unexplained bleeding or bruising.
The mortality rate for the Bundibugyo virus ranges from 25 to 50 percent.
The Zaire strain, the most common form of Ebola, can be treated with the drugs Inmazeb and Ebanga and the Ervebo vaccine, which is only administered during outbreaks.
Ancia said officials were considering using the Ervebo vaccine, but any approved variant would take two months to become available. She added that she does not “see that in two months we will be done with this outbreak.”
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