WHO declares Ebola outbreak in Africa an emergency of international concern
The World Health Organization has recognized the new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda as a public health emergency that poses a threat to neighboring countries.
Healthcare workers at the Ebola Treatment Center in Beni, Congo, 2019. Photo: AP Photo / Jerome Delay, File
According to the agency's statement, the spread of the infection poses a serious threat to neighboring states, and the medical organization «Doctors Without Borders» has already called the situation extremely alarming and has begun implementing large-scale response measures.
The main danger of the current epidemic, which began in the second half of April, lies in its specific Bundibugyo strain.
Unlike the more common Zaire variant, there is currently no approved vaccine or effective medicine against this virus. Meanwhile, the average mortality rate from the fever remains very high, reaching about fifty percent.
Specialists have not yet been able to identify a zero patient, which makes it impossible to assess the true scale of the disaster, but already about 90 deaths and hundreds of suspicious cases have been recorded in the Congolese province of Ituri. The virus has also managed to break into the country's capital Kinshasa and spread beyond the state's borders — laboratory-confirmed cases, including one fatal case, have been registered in Uganda's capital Kampala.
The fight against the disease is significantly complicated by the military-political situation in the main epicenter of the infection. Ituri province is in complete isolation two thousand kilometers from the capital and is controlled by the military due to constant attacks by local armed groups and militants linked to terrorist organizations. This makes the delivery of experts, medicines, and contact tracing of the sick a deadly dangerous task.
To contain the epidemic, WHO recommended urgently isolating all patients, organizing daily monitoring, and prohibiting international travel for potentially infected individuals for twenty-one days.
The authorities of Congo and Uganda have been ordered to deploy emergency operations centers and road checkpoints.
At the same time, the organization urged the international community not to close borders or stop trade with the affected region, as such steps are based only on fear, lack scientific justification, and would force people to cross borders illegally and uncontrollably.
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