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Congo Ebola outbreak threatens more neighbors, Africa CDC says

Michael J. Kavanagh, Bloomberg News on

Published in Health & Fitness

The Ebola virus is still spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo and threatening neighboring countries, according to the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While there’s been some relief in Congo’s Ituri province where the outbreak began, cases are spreading along the nation’s borders with Uganda, Rwanda, Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo, Africa CDC’s Director General Jean Kaseya said Tuesday.

“If we don’t pay attention, yes there is a risk for this outbreak to be in CAR, in Congo Brazza or in other countries,” Kaseya said at a conference hosted by Semafor at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York, referring to Congo Republic.

It’s the worst outbreak in the history of Congo, where the disease was first identified in the 1970s. Through Sept. 19, Congo’s government has recorded 7,672 confirmed cases of the virus and 3,699 deaths.

Kaseya said he would ask for more funding and support for the Ebola response at a Group of 20 ministers’ meeting in New York on Wednesday. Funders have already promised more than $800 million, though much of it hasn’t been disbursed, he said.

 

There is no vaccine for the Ebola Bundibugyo virus species causing the outbreak, though it was first identified 19 years ago, according to Kaseya.

Several new vaccines are undergoing trials, but won’t be ready for at least six months. A trial testing the efficacy of a vaccine for a different Ebola species known as Zaire on Bundibugyo patients should be completed by December, he said.

Kaseya said he doubted it would have taken this long to find a vaccine if an Ebola species had been in the U.S. or Europe for 19 years.

“But let us not talk about the past,” he said.


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