World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has declared the expanding Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a “public health emergency of international concern,” while stressing that it does not amount to a global pandemic emergency.
This story is written and edited by Global South World
Speaking on Wednesday, Tedros said the WHO assessed the risk as high at the national and regional levels but low globally.
“The Emergency Committee agreed that the situation is a public health emergency of international concern, but is not a pandemic emergency,” he said.
The latest outbreak has presented unusual challenges for health authorities because laboratory analysis confirmed that it is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus.
Existing vaccine stockpiles were developed for the more common Zaire strain, leaving international response teams without the main preventative tools used in previous outbreaks.
“With respect to Merck’s ‘Vibo’, which is the licensed Ebola Zaire virus vaccine, that is a vaccine for Ebola Zaire disease. It is not a vaccine for Bundibugyo,” explained WHO senior adviser Dr Vasee Moorthy.
Health officials said the outbreak initially emerged in the remote mining communities of Mongbwalu and Rwampara in eastern Congo, but cases have since been detected in urban centres including Goma, a major regional transit hub.
Cross-border transmission has also been confirmed after Uganda reported two Ebola-positive travellers arriving from the DRC in Kampala.
WHO technical officer Anais Legand said response teams were now focused on preparing treatment centres and launching clinical trials for potential therapies.
“Our priority right now is to help set up the platform, starting with a safe and optimised treatment centre, good patient referral pathways to ensure that every suspected case can be early detected and cared for,” she said.
The outbreak comes only months after the DRC declared its 16th Ebola outbreak over in December. That epidemic recorded 64 cases and 45 deaths.
This article was originally published by Global South World and is republished here with permission. View the original article.
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