WHO concerned about scale and speed of Ebola outbreak 

BUNIA (AP):

The World Health Organization director general yesterday openly expressed worry over the “scale and speed” of an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola in eastern Congo, where the authorities reported a sharp increase in suspected deaths — to at least 134 — and more than 500 suspected cases.

The virus spread undetected for weeks after the first known death as the authorities tested for a more common type of Ebola and came up negative, health experts and aid workers said. The Bundibugyo virus has no approved medicines or vaccines.

In Bunia, the site of the first known death, health workers in protective gear moved among residents wearing fabric masks. “I know the consequences of Ebola, I know what it’s like,” said a worried resident, Noëla Lumo.

Congo was expecting shipments from the United States and Britain of an experimental vaccine for different types of Ebola, developed by researchers at Oxford, said Jean-Jaques Muyembe, a virologist at the National Institute of Bio-Medical Research.

“We will administer the vaccine and see who develops the disease,” he said. But experts said such efforts would take time.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic”, and pointed to the emergence of cases in urban areas, the deaths of healthcare workers, and significant population movement.

Thirty cases have been confirmed in Congo, Tedros later told a meeting of the UN health agency’s emergency committee. He said neighbouring Uganda has informed the WHO of two confirmed cases, including a death in its capital, Kampala, among people who had travelled from Congo.

WHO has declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, requiring a coordinated response. Resources were being rushed to two affected provinces near Uganda. Parts of eastern Congo are in the hands of armed rebels.

The head of the WHO team in Congo said the authorities haven’t identified “patient zero”.

Dr Anne Ancia also said the Ervebo vaccine, used against a different type of Ebola, was among those considered for possible use, but anything approved would take two months to become available.

“I don’t see that in two months we will be done with this outbreak,” she said.

For now, Ancia said, neither the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the Africa Centers for Disease Control were on the ground, but others were, including Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross.

The UNICEF office in Bunia said it had sent an initial 16 tonnes of relief supplies, mainly disinfectants and soaps, personal protective equipment, and water purification tablets and water tanks.

Cases have been confirmed in the capital of Congo’s Ituri province, Bunia; North Kivu’s rebel-held capital, Goma; and the localities of Mongbwalu, Nyakunde and Butembo — home to well over a million people in all.

Dr Peter Stafford, an American doctor, is among the Bunia cases, said Serge, the Christian organisation he works for. He had been treating patients at a hospital.

Tedros said an American had tested positive and been transferred to Germany.

Ebola is highly contagious and can be contracted via bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The disease it causes is rare but severe and often fatal. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pain and unexplained bleeding or bruising.

During an outbreak more than a decade ago that killed more than 11,000 people, many were infected while washing bodies for funerals.

“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,” said Dr Craig Spencer, an associate professor at the Brown University School of Public Health who survived Ebola more than a decade ago after contracting it in Guinea.

There was growing panic in Bunia neighbourhoods. Local authorities urged people to remain calm and adhere to preventive measures including practicing good hygiene and exercising caution during funerals.

The most important challenge is breaking the virus transmission chain, Muyembe said, adding that most of Congo’s previous Ebola outbreaks “were brought under control simply by applying public health measures”.

File name: Ebola aid workers

Caption: Aid workers carry supplies to set up an Ebola treatment centre in Bunia, Congo, on Tuesday. AP