WHO Chief Admits Ebola Crisis Spiraling Out of Control
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading faster than containment efforts can manage, with over 220 suspected deaths and neighboring countries facing increased risk.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged the grim reality during an online briefing to African Union officials late Monday, according to Breitbart News. The Ethiopian bureaucrat issued an urgent warning that current response efforts are failing to keep pace with the epidemic’s advance.
Tedros told the continental body that the epidemic is outpacing us and called on countries bordering the DRC to implement immediate protective measures. He revealed that 220 suspected deaths have been recorded in the current outbreak and announced plans to visit the affected region Tuesday alongside Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies programme.
The response has been significantly hampered by violent attacks on healthcare facilities in Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, where local residents have targeted medical teams attempting to contain the spread.
Earlier this month, the WHO chief designated the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern following more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths in the DRC, plus two fatalities in neighboring Uganda, as Breitbart News reports.
Uganda confirmed two additional Ebola cases Monday, bringing the nation’s total confirmed infections to seven. Both new cases involve Ugandan healthcare workers employed at a private medical facility in the capital city of Kampala, according to an official statement from the country’s health ministry.
The escalating crisis has prompted British scientists to fast-track development of a new vaccine utilizing the same platform technology that produced the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, targeting the deadly sub-strain currently ravaging the DRC and surrounding countries, Breitbart News reports.
First identified in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ebola is believed to have originated in bat populations. The rare but highly contagious viral disease spreads primarily through contact with bodily fluids and carries a high mortality rate.
Clinical presentation includes severe fever, profound fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and hemorrhaging.
With information from Breitbart News
