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An outbreak of Ebola in Congo and Uganda was declared a public health emergency of international concern today after greater than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths.
In a post on X, the WHO said the outbreak doesn’t meet the factors of a pandemic emergency like COVID-19, and advised against the closure of international borders.
But authorities have confirmed the present outbreak is attributable to the Bundibugyo virus, a rare variant of the Ebola disease that has no approved therapeutics or vaccines.
Although greater than 20 Ebola outbreaks have taken place in Congo and Uganda, this is barely the third time the Bundibugyo virus has been reported.
Officials first reported the spread of the disease in Congo’s eastern province of Ituri, near Uganda and South Sudan, on Friday.
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On Saturday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported 336 suspected cases and 87 deaths.
Congo accounts for all except two of the cases, each of which were reported in neighbouring Uganda, the WHO said.
Uganda on Saturday confirmed one case it said was imported from Congo, and said the patient died at a hospital in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and the WHO said that a second case has been reported in Kampala.
The 2 cases had no apparent links to one another and each patients had travelled from Congo, it added.
The Bundibugyo virus was first detected in Uganda’s Bundibugyo district during a 2007-2008 outbreak that infected 149 people and killed 37 people.
What’s Ebola?
The WHO states that Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly generally known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a rare but severe and infrequently fatal illness in humans.
It’s transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads within the human population through human-to-human transmission.
The typical EVD case fatality rate is around 50 per cent. Case fatality rates have varied from 25 per cent to 90 per cent in past outbreaks.
Ebola spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes).
An individual infected with Ebola cannot spread the disease until they develop symptoms.
Good outbreak control relies on applying a package of interventions, namely case management, infection prevention and control practices, surveillance and call tracing, a great laboratory service, protected and dignified burials and social mobilisation.
Early supportive care with rehydration and symptomatic treatment improves survival. There isn’t any licensed treatment proven to neutralise the virus, but a variety of blood, immunological and drug therapies are under development.
The WHO advises using gloves when coping with people infected with Ebola and all the time practising protected sex.
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