The World Health Organization's Africa regional director is urging the global community not to underestimate the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, warning it carries a serious cross-border transmission risk.
The DRC health ministry reported 670 suspected cases, 160 suspected deaths and 61 confirmed infections as of Thursday. Two confirmed cases have already crossed into neighboring Uganda, Reuters reported Friday.
“It would be a big mistake to underestimate it,” WHO Africa regional director Mohamed Yakub Janabi told Reuters. “You just need one contact case to put all of us at risk.”
No Vaccine, No Index Case
Ebola, or Ebola virus disease, is a zoonotic viral hemorrhagic fever with a two-to-three-week incubation period. Symptoms progress from fever, muscle pain and headache to vomiting, diarrhea and organ dysfunction. It spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected people.
The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain, a variant for which no approved vaccine currently exists. Epidemiologists have not yet identified the index patient, making it difficult to trace the initial chain of contacts and contain the spread.
High population movement, widespread misinformation and growing community mistrust are complicating containment efforts, Janabi said. He added that tensions escalated after a dispute over a victim's body led to the burning of treatment tents.
According to the report, Janabi also said the outbreak has drawn far less global attention than this month's hantavirus incident involving cruise passengers from 23 countries.
Pandemic Risk On The Radar
Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield escalated the concern on Wednesday, warning the outbreak could spill into Tanzania, South Sudan and Rwanda. “I suspect this is going to become a very significant pandemic,” Redfield said.
The geopolitical dimension is also sharpening. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pushed back against Secretary of State Marco Rubio's claim that the agency was “a little late” in identifying the outbreak. “We don't replace the countries' work, we only support them,” Tedros said.
