Africa-Press. The Director-General of a health organization stated that the Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing a “very serious and complex” challenge with the Ebola outbreak, urging neighboring countries to take “immediate” actions to limit its spread.
During a ministerial meeting held online by a health agency, he explained that several factors in this epidemic “make its management particularly complex.”
Severity of the Ebola Outbreak
He noted that “the delay in detecting the outbreak means we are now trying to catch up with an epidemic that is spreading very quickly,” adding that field teams “are urgently intensifying operations, but at this moment, the outbreak is spreading faster than we are.”
The Director-General is scheduled to travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday, accompanied by the Executive Director of the health emergency program, a specialist in infectious diseases.
International Health Warning
Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced on May 15 the emergence of an Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which currently has no available vaccine or specific treatment, with a fatality rate of up to 50%. This prompted a health organization to issue an international health warning.
As of now, he indicated that “101 confirmed cases have been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including 10 confirmed deaths,” while also noting that the scale of the outbreak is likely much larger, as “there are currently over 900 suspected cases and 220 suspected deaths.”
Despite these figures, he emphasized that “this virus is known to us, and we know how to stop its transmission… the only question is how quickly we can achieve that, and how many lives will be lost during this time.” This is the seventeenth outbreak of Ebola in the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ebola’s Spread to Neighboring Countries
The health organization raised its assessment of public health risks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from “high” to “very high,” the highest level in its classification, while maintaining a “high” risk assessment regionally and “low” globally.
The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that ten African countries are threatened by the Ebola outbreak, alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicenter, and its neighbor Uganda.
He stressed that “the countries bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo face a particular threat and must act immediately,” adding that “in Uganda, five cases have been confirmed with one death recorded.”
While he did not provide specific details on the measures required from these countries, the health organization continues to support national authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly in contact tracing, establishing treatment centers, and raising awareness about the disease and prevention methods.
Ebola Virus and Its Symptoms
Ebola is one of the deadliest viral diseases, transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals or contaminated materials. Symptoms typically begin with fever, fatigue, and muscle pain, before developing in some cases into vomiting, diarrhea, and internal bleeding.
Infected individuals do not become contagious until symptoms appear, following an incubation period ranging from two to 21 days.
The Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the first outbreaks recorded in remote villages in Central Africa near tropical rainforests.
Ebola is considered a severe viral disease and is often fatal in humans, transmitted to humans from wild animals such as fruit bats, and then spreads among humans through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected individuals, as well as through surfaces and materials contaminated with these fluids.
Symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, sore throat, vomiting, and diarrhea, with severe cases potentially leading to bleeding, multiple organ failure, and death.
The average fatality rate for Ebola is around 50%, but this rate has varied in previous outbreaks between 25% and 90%, according to data from the health organization.
