Ebola Outbreak in Central Africa Raises Concerns of Global Pandemic
An outbreak of Ebola in Central Africa has already led to more than 600 suspected cases and is raising concerns about the potential for a new global pandemic. Dr Robert Redfield, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has warned that this outbreak could become a “significant pandemic.” He emphasized that the situation is of international public health concern, particularly because the outbreak was not recognized quickly.
“I suspect this is going to become a very significant pandemic,” Redfield said. “This is an outbreak right now that is really a significant outbreak, that’s of significant public health international concern, partially because… it wasn’t recognized very quickly. I’m not sure why.”
Normally, when Ebola outbreaks occur, they are identified early, with only five to 10 cases reported. However, this outbreak was not detected until over 100 cases had been recorded. As of now, there are close to 500 cases and around 150 deaths, with the disease spreading rapidly.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda as a “public health emergency of international concern.” Local health officials have reported 536 suspected cases, 105 probable cases, 34 confirmed cases, and 134 suspected deaths from the disease.
One American, Dr Peter Stafford, has tested positive for the virus while working in the DRC and has been transported to Germany for treatment. The 39-year-old was reported to be barely able to stand when he was flown from the country on Tuesday. He became sick days after operating on a 33-year-old patient with severe abdominal pain.
The first case in the outbreak was recorded on April 24 in a health worker in Bunia, DRC, who started to suffer from a fever, hemorrhaging, vomiting, and intense malaise. The individual later died, but it took three weeks for tests to be ordered that revealed they had been infected with Ebola, allowing time for the disease to spread.
Unlike diseases such as Covid or the flu, Ebola does not transmit through the air. Instead, it spreads via direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected or deceased person. About 50 percent of people infected with the current outbreak strain of Ebola die from the disease.
On Thursday, the US government announced that all Americans returning to the country from high-risk nations for Ebola must rebook their travel arrangements to arrive at Dulles International Airport, 30 miles outside of Washington DC, in order to be screened for the deadly virus. This applies to all Americans and lawful permanent residents who were in South Sudan, Uganda, or the DRC in the previous 21 days.
On Wednesday, a flight from Paris to Detroit was diverted to Montreal after officials determined that an individual from the Ebola-hit DRC was on board. The passenger disembarked in Montreal, was assessed by a quarantine officer, and flew back to Paris, Canada’s health agency said in a statement. The individual was determined to be asymptomatic and has now flown back to France, officials in Canada said. They have not tested positive for the virus.
The State Department currently lists a level 4 do not travel alert for the DRC for crime, unrest, terrorism, and health reasons. The American embassy in the country said: “The US government is extremely limited in its ability to provide emergency services to US citizens in Ituri province. Do not travel to this area for any reason.”
Ituri province, in the DRC, is the epicenter of the outbreak. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic,” which involves the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola that has a mortality rate of up to 50 percent. He said he expects the number of cases and deaths to rise in the coming weeks and added that the risk of spread of the outbreak in the DRC, South Sudan, and Uganda is high at the national and regional level, but the spread risk is low at the global level.
CDC officials said the risk to the general US public remains low but urged travelers to the area to avoid the area and contact with any sick individuals. The CDC also said travelers should watch for symptoms of Ebola for 21 days after leaving the DRC.
CDC officials did not provide specifics surrounding screening and procedures ahead of the World Cup, but said that the agency is “actively working with FIFA to ensure safe traveling and passage” and to ensure the “American public remains safe throughout” the competition. The agency is deploying personnel to the DRC and Uganda, along with personal protective equipment and additional resources to provide “direct technical assistance for aggressive disease tracking and contact tracing.”
The WHO said that the first known suspected case, a health worker in the DRC, developed symptoms on April 24, but “patient zero” has not been identified, the head of the WHO team in the DRC, Dr Anne Ancia, told AP.
This is the 17th Ebola outbreak in the DRC, where the virus is endemic, since it was discovered in 1976, but only the third caused by the Bundibugyo strain. The other two Bundibugyo outbreaks were in 2007 and 2012. The most recent Ebola outbreaks in the DRC were in 2018 and 2020 and they killed more than 1,000 people each. The largest Ebola outbreak occurred in 2014 to 2016 in West Africa when more than 28,600 cases were reported.
Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain, and weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and unexplained bleeding or bruising. The mortality rate for the Bundibugyo virus ranges from 25 to 50 percent. The Zaire strain, which is the most common form of Ebola, can be treated with the drugs Inmazeb and Ebanga and the Ervebo vaccine, which is administered only during outbreaks. Ancia said officials were considering using the Ervebo vaccine, but anything approved would take months to become available, adding that she doesn’t “see that in two months we will be done with this outbreak.”
