WHO worried about Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo

The World Health Organisation director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, openly worried Tuesday over the “scale and speed” of an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola in eastern Congo, where authorities reported a sharp increase in suspected deaths—to at least 134—and more than 500 suspected 

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.

Congo was expecting shipments from the United States and Britain of ChAdOx1, an experimental vaccine developed by researchers at Oxford and designed to target the more common types of Ebola, Zaire and Sudan, Jean-Jaques Muyembe, a virologist at the National Institute of Bio-Medical Research, told journalists.

“We will administer the vaccine and see who develops the disease,” he said.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic,” and the UN health agency convened its emergency committee on Tuesday. 

He pointed to the emergence of cases in urban areas, the deaths of healthcare workers and significant population movement.

The head of the UNICEF office in Bunia, the site of the first known death, said it had been sent an initial 16 tons of relief supplies, mainly disinfectants and soaps, personal protective equipment, water purification tablets and water tanks.

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, which have reported one death, a person who travelled from Congo. Parts of the region are in the hands of armed rebels.

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