The Tamesis
The World Health Organization has announced Ebola outbreak A public health emergency of international concern has occurred in Congo and Uganda after officials identified more than 250 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths.
Officials have warned that the true scope of the outbreak may be much larger than reported so far, as health workers race to step up screening and contact tracing to contain the disease.
The World Health Organization said the outbreak did not meet the criteria for a “pandemic emergency” like COVID-19 and recommended against closing international borders.
As of Saturday, Congo’s eastern province of Ituri, the epicenter of the outbreak, had reported eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths, the emergency declaration said. Kampala, Uganda, reported two more laboratory-confirmed cases in one day, including one death. The World Health Organization said both cases were confirmed in people arriving from Congo and had “no apparent link to each other.”
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths in Congo, but regional health officials said at a news conference on Saturday that they had identified more than 300 suspected cases in total.
Officials first declared the outbreak on Friday. Locals in Bunia, the capital of Ituri, said the frequent funerals left them fearing for their lives.
“People are dying every day… This has been going on for about a week. In one day we have buried two, three or more people,” said Jean Marc Asimwe, a Bunia resident.
Congolese Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said late on Friday that there were eight laboratory-confirmed cases and four deaths.
Test results confirmed it was Bundibugyo virus, a variant of the disease that has not been as prominent in past outbreaks in Congo. This is the 17th outbreak since Ebola first emerged in Congo in 1976.
AP Photo/Jorkim Jotham Pituwa 
Ebola It is highly contagious and can be contracted through body fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The illness it causes is rare but serious and often fatal.
According to CBS News medical reporter Dr. Céline Gounder, Bundibugyo virus has caused only two previous Ebola outbreaks. Of these, 55 cases occurred in Uganda in 2007. Another occurred in Congo in 2012, with a total of 57 cases. There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for this strain of Ebola, Gundel said, noting that “medical professionals appear to be very concerned about the possibility or ability to contain this virus.”
Kamba said the suspected index case in the latest outbreak was a nurse who died in a hospital in Bunia. He said the case dates back to April 24.
He did not say whether the nurse’s sample had been tested, but said the nurse was showing symptoms of Ebola.
The epidemic spreads to neighboring Uganda
Uganda confirmed a case of Ebola on Friday, which authorities said was “imported” from Congo. The man died at Kibuli Muslim Hospital in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, on May 14.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was concerned about the risk of further spread of the disease due to the affected areas’ proximity to Uganda and South Sudan.
According to Agence France-Presse, medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders said it was preparing for a “large-scale response” and called the rapid spread of the epidemic “extremely worrying.”
The body of the patient who died in Kampala was later brought back to Congo, and no other cases have been confirmed there, the Ugandan Ministry of Health said.
Joakim Josam Pitowa (AP) 
People were checked at the entrance of Kibuli Muslim Hospital on Saturday.
Ismail Kigongo, who lives in Kampala, said the new outbreak reminded him of the father he lost During the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was really scared because I remember burying my father without looking at his body,” he said.
Uganda’s neighbor Kenya said on Saturday there was a “moderate risk of importation” of Ebola due to regional travel. The Kenyan government said it has formed Ebola preparedness teams and stepped up surveillance at all ports of entry.
Logistical challenges complicate outbreak management
During disease outbreaks, Congo often faces logistical challenges in getting expertise and supplies to affected areas.
Africa’s second-largest country by landmass, Congo’s provinces are far apart from each other and most are mired in conflict. For example, Ituri is approximately 620 miles from the country’s capital, Kinshasa. ravaged by violence from Islamic State-backed militants.
“We know very well [is] Dr. Abdi Rahman Mahmoud, Director of WHO Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations, said at a press conference on Friday that the country has experience, but the area where this occurs is very unstable, and the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, with populations migrating from South Sudan to Uganda and other areas.
So far, cases have been confirmed in three health zones in the epidemic-concentrated areas: Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province, Rwanpara and Munwalu.
Hajala Narvada (AP) 
The National Institute of Biomedical Research tested only 13 blood samples; eight people tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain. The health minister said the remaining five cases could not be analyzed due to insufficient sample size.
In Ituri’s main city of Bunia, business and routine activities in public places appeared normal on Friday.
Resident Adeline Awekonimungu said she hoped the outbreak could be contained quickly. “My advice is for the government to take this seriously and take charge of the hospitals so that this matter can be brought under control,” she said.
CDC says risk to Americans from Ebola is low
U.S. health officials said the risk to Americans is low but did not directly answer questions about whether Americans may have been exposed to Ebola in Africa.
The CDC is working with other health officials “to ensure that the outbreak is contained and prevents further spread of Ebola,” Dr. Satish Pillai, CDC’s outbreak response manager, told reporters on Sunday.
Pillay said the agency has an office of 30 people in Congo and is working to deploy more CDC staff to respond to the outbreak.
The agency issued a travel advisory on Friday, urging Americans traveling to Congo and Uganda to avoid people with symptoms such as fever, muscle pain and rash. Pillay said the CDC is also “taking appropriate steps to identify individuals with any symptoms” at ports of entry, but CDC officials did not immediately respond to follow-up questions seeking more details.
Ebola survivor doctor questions U.S. response
The U.S. has been the largest outside player in the Ebola response in the past, but experts worry about funding cuts by the Trump administration USAID and its withdrawal WHO sanctions against the country could hamper such efforts.
New York doctor who contracted Ebola more than a decade ago and survived told CBS News on Friday. He was “very concerned” about the medical staff treating Ebola patients. Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency room physician and public health professor at Brown University, said health care workers are “in very close contact with people when they are most contagious.”
Spencer said that the United States currently does not have the ability to respond quickly to a global outbreak. He told CBS News there may be a connection between USAID’s closure and the fact that the latest outbreak wasn’t announced until Friday.
“USAID has been on the ground since before the second Trump administration,” Spencer said. “CDC would be on the scene as soon as we were notified of a new Ebola outbreak, and maybe even before we were notified because we were spread across so many countries. We had relationships established beforehand.”
Spencer also noted the absence of the Office of Epidemic Preparedness and Response and other health agencies. However, he said that the United States is still capable of responding to the epidemic.
He said Ebola “is not very transmissible” and highlighted the U.S. response to the virus. Deadly outbreak of rare hantavirus strain Board a Dutch cruise ship.
“In the past few weeks, we’ve seen the state quarantine unit in Nebraska and more than a dozen centers across the United States be able to handle very serious pathogens like hantavirus and Ebola,” Spencer said. “These are commitments we have made as a country, especially in part because of my own case a decade ago.”
