The World Health Organization has raised the public health risk of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo from “high” to “very high” as the deadly outbreak continues to spread across the eastern region.
WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the upgrade on Friday, revising the risk assessment for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola to “very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at global level.”
Rising Death Toll
Tedros said the situation in the DRC was “deeply worrisome.” So far, 82 cases have been confirmed with seven confirmed deaths, but he warned that the epidemic is much larger than the numbers suggest. There are now almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths.
Additional WHO personnel have been deployed to the epicentre of the outbreak in Ituri province to support affected communities.
No Vaccine for the Rare Strain
The new strain of the virus currently has no approved vaccine or treatment. The WHO declared it a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday but stressed it was not at pandemic level.
The Bundibugyo strain of Ebola has only caused two previous outbreaks — in Uganda in 2007 and DR Congo in 2012 — and has not been seen for over a decade. It kills around a third of those infected, far less than the more common Zaire and Sudan species.
What This Means
The international community must not underestimate the risk posed by this outbreak, Mohamed Yakub Janabi, the WHO regional director for Africa, told Reuters. “You just need one contact case to put all of us at risk, so my wish and prayer is that we should give Ebola the attention it deserves,” he said.
