The World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that he was “deeply concerned about the scale and speed of” the recent outbreak of a rare type of Ebola in eastern Congo. Authorities have already reported 134 suspected deaths with over 500 presumed cases.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, recently stated that he was “deeply concerned” over the “scale and speed” in which the recent outbreak of a rare type of Ebola is spreading in eastern Congo. As of this week, authorities have reported about 135 suspected deaths and over 500 presumed cases of the Bundibugyo species of the Ebola virus.
Health experts and aid workers stated that the virus was able to spread initially for weeks after the first known death because authorities were testing for a more common type of Ebola, which came up as negative. Unfortunately, the Bundibugyo virus has no approved medicines or vaccine treatments.
Worried resident Noëla Lumo told reporters: “I know the consequences of Ebola, I know what it’s like.”
The first known death was in Bunia, where health workers in protective gear have now moved. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, a virus expert at the National Institute of Biomedical Research, stated that the Congo was expecting shipments from the United States and Britain of an experimental vaccine for different types of Ebola. The vaccine was developed by researchers at Oxford.
“We will administer the vaccine and see who develops the disease,” Muyembe said.
At a meeting of the UN health agency’s emergency committee, Ghebreyesus expressed just how concerned he was over this public health emergency, emphasizing the emergence of cases in more urban areas, the deaths of healthcare workers, as well as a large movement in population.
“In Congo, 30 cases have been confirmed. Neighboring Uganda has informed the WHO of two confirmed cases including a death in its capital, Kampala, among people who had traveled from Congo.”
The WHO has officially declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern that will require a coordinated response. Ghebreyesus confirmed that resources are currently being rushed to two affected provinces near Uganda. In eastern Congo, part of the challenge is getting aid through areas that are taken over by armed rebels.
Dr. Anne Ancia, the head of the WHO team in Congo, said that authorities have not yet identified a patient zero. She also explained that when it came to treatment, the Ervebo vaccine, which is used against a different type of Ebola, is among those being considered for use. However, like many vaccine treatments anything that gets approved would take two months to become available. “I don’t see that in two months we will be done with this outbreak,” Dr. Ancia said.
“For now, neither the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the Africa Centers for Disease Control are on the ground, but others are including Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross.”
The UNICEF office in Bunia stated that they had an initial 16 tons of relief supplies consisting mainly of disinfectants, soaps, personal protective equipment, water purification tablets, and water tanks.
Hela Skhiri, UNICEF’s Bunia bureau chief, stated that the relief supplies would be distributed based on the needs throughout three treatment centers in Ituri province. Cases have been confirmed in Congo’s Ituri province, Bunia; North Kivu’s rebel-held capital, Goma; and Mongbwalu, Nyakunde and Butembo.
Ebola in general is a very contagious virus that can be contracted through bodily fluids like vomit, blood, or semen. The disease it causes is rare, but very severe and often fatal. During an outbreak over a decade ago, more than 11,000 people were killed with many being infected.
Dr. Craig Spencer, an associate professor at the Brown University School of Public Health who also survived Ebola in the past after contracting it in Guinea, explained just how severe outbreaks truly can be.
“Ebola is very much a disease of compassion in that it impacts the people who are more likely to be taking care of sick folks.”
“It’s truly sad and painful because we’ve already been through a security crisis, and now Ebola is here too. We have to protect ourselves to avoid this epidemic,” said Justin Ndasi, a resident of Bunia.
“The most important challenge is breaking the virus transmission chain. Most of Congo’s previous Ebola outbreaks were brought under control simply by applying public health measures,” Muyembe said.
Congo’s health minister, Samuel Roger Kamba, said that the first person in their nation died from the virus on April 24th, but it wasn’t fully confirmed for weeks, which “caused the Ebola outbreak to escalate.”
According to the Africa CDC, when another person got sick on April 26th, samples were sent to Congo’s capital, Kinshasa. Samples from Bunia, which is over 600 miles away, were tested for the more common type of Ebola known as Zaire, officials said.
On May 5th, the WHO was informed of around 50 deaths in Mongbwalu, which included four health workers.
“Our surveillance system didn’t work. The Bunia laboratory … should have continued searching and sent the samples to the national laboratory. Something went wrong there. That’s why we ended up in this catastrophic situation,” Muyembe said.
On an international level, Matthew M. Kavanaugh, director of the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Policy and Politics, criticized the Trump administration for their decision to withdraw from WHO and make deep cuts to foreign aid. “That is the exact surveillance system meant to catch these viruses early.”
The US State Department said that it provided $13 million for the response, however, Dr. Ancia in Bunia said that the cuts in funding has “a marked detrimental effect on humanitarian actors.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
