The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda an international emergency; the disease has claimed 80 lives and continues to spread, Reuters reports.
The WHO said the outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, does not meet the criteria for a pandemic, but there is a risk that the virus will spread further to countries that share a land border with Congo. On the 17th of May, the WHO reported that 80 deaths from the virus were suspected, of which eight were laboratory-confirmed. There are also 246 suspected cases of Ebola.
CBS News reported that at least six Americans in Congo have been exposed to Ebola, and three of the cases were high-risk contacts. STAT News reported that one of the Americans has developed symptoms of the disease. Reuters has not been able to independently confirm the report. Citing anonymous sources, STAT News also reported that the US government is trying to find ways to evacuate its citizens from Congo, possibly to a military base in Germany. A spokesman for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declined to confirm on the 17th of May whether Americans were among the infected, stressing instead that the risk to the US remained low.
CDC officials told reporters that the agency had activated its emergency response center and planned to send more people to its offices in Congo and Uganda. The US embassy in Congo issued a warning on the 17th of May, reminding that the State Department advises against travel to Ituri province, and said that the US government has very limited capacity to provide assistance to its citizens in the area, so it is not allowed to travel to the province.
Congo’s Health Ministry reported on the 15th of May that 80 people had died in the outbreak
in the east of the country. In fact, the 17th Ebola outbreak in Congo, where the disease was first detected in 1976, could be much larger, given the high initial number of samples testing positive for Ebola and the growing number of suspected cases.
The outbreak is exceptional because there is no specific drug or vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, unlike the Zaire strain of Ebola. With one exception, all other Ebola outbreaks in Congo have been caused by the Zaire strain. The current outbreak in Congo and Uganda poses a risk to other countries, and there have been documented cases of international spread. The WHO has advised countries to activate their disaster and emergency management mechanisms and to begin screening at borders and major international routes.
The WHO has advised that people who have been in contact with patients or who have tested positive for Ebola should not travel unless they are part of a medical evacuation.
The Ebola virus is often fatal. It causes fever, body aches, vomiting, and diarrhea, and the virus is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids or infected people, contaminated materials, or the remains of infected people.
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