Ebola risk now at highest level in DR Congo
GENEVA, SWITERLAND—The risk from the deadly Ebola outbreak has been raised to the highest level for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, as the toll continued to rise.
There are now 82 confirmed cases and seven confirmed deaths in the DRC, with almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths, the WHO said.
The outbreak, which experts suspect was circulating under the radar for some time, was caused by the less common Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.
The WHO is prioritizing certain existing treatments to see how effective they might be in combating the strain.
Uganda situation ‘stable’
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the situation was “especially challenging” as health workers scramble to catch up with the spread of the virus and track down contacts of everyone thought to be infected, in highly insecure areas.
“We know the epidemic in DRC is much larger” than the confirmed cases, he told journalists at the WHO headquarters in Geneva.
Tedros said the situation in neighboring Uganda was “stable,” with two cases confirmed in people who travelled from the DRC and one death.
Intense contact tracing appeared to have prevented further spread, he added.
While a US national who was working in the DRC has tested positive and been transferred to Germany for care, Tedros said another US national deemed to be a high-risk contact had been transferred to the Czech Republic.
No entry in Rwanda
Rwanda’s health ministry announced on Friday that any foreign nationals who had travelled through the neighboring the DRC would be refused entry.
Rwandan nationals and foreigners with Rwandan residency would be allowed in, subject to a mandatory quarantine period “in line with public health protocols.”
In the Netherlands, Radboud University Hospital said on Friday it had admitted a patient with a “low suspicion” of Ebola and had put him in isolation pending the result of diagnostic tests.
Virus ‘rampant’
Ebola is a deadly viral disease spread through direct contact with bodily fluids. It can cause severe bleeding and organ failure.
The WHO upgraded its risk assessment level from high to very high for the DRC, while keeping the regional risk level at high and the global risk level at low.
The assessment determines the potential impact of a public health threat and the necessary response measures, with WHO advice set to follow.
“The potential of this virus spreading rapidly is very high, and that changed the whole dynamic,” said the WHO’s emergency alert and response director Abdi Rahman Mahamud.
