WHO chief concerned over ‘scale and speed’ of Ebola outbreak as Congo reports 134 dead

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization on Tuesday expressed concern over the “scale and speed” of an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola known as Bundibugyo in eastern Congo, where authorities reported 134 suspected deaths and more than 500 suspected cases.

The virus spread undetected for weeks after the first known death as 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-Jacques Muyembe, a virus expert at the National Institute of Biomedical 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.

In Congo, 30 cases have been confirmed, Tedros later told a meeting of the U.N. health agency’s emergency committee. He said neighboring Uganda has informed the WHO of two confirmed cases including a death in its capital, Kampala, among people who had traveled from Congo.

WHO expects the outbreak to last for months at least

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, complicating sending aid.

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

She 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 U.S. 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 been sent an initial 16 tons of relief supplies, mainly disinfectants and soaps, personal protective equipment and water purification tablets and water tanks.

Hela Skhiri, UNICEF’s Bunia bureau chief, said that the relief supplies would be distributed according to need across three treatment centers in Ituri province.

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 organization he works for. He had been treating patients at a hospital.

Tedros said an American had tested positive and been transferred to Germany, but didn’t confirm the identity of the patient.

Source: AP