The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Thursday it will allocate $107 million in emergency funding to combat the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
The ongoing outbreak coincides with the FIFA World Cup jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, attracting global visitors. Officials stated the outbreak, now the third largest on record, requires “strong immediate support,” but the global risk remains low.
“Specifically, and consistent with that modeling, we are now already approaching 1,000 confirmed cases across 31 health zones in DRC,” said Dr. Satish K. Pillai, incident manager for the CDC’s Ebola response, in a briefing. “There are 31 cases in Kampala, Uganda.”
Pillai noted the CDC has 23 field staff supporting disease investigations and 125 staff across the DRC and Uganda, with bi-weekly calls to U.S. World Cup host cities. So far, local health authorities have mostly dealt with typical large-event illnesses like heat-related conditions.
The outbreak of Bundibugyo viral disease (BVD), a rare zoonotic Ebola species causing hemorrhagic fever, began about a month ago along the DRC-Uganda border. Recent outbreaks have killed 30% to 50% of those infected.
African health officials warn the outbreak could become the worst on record and take a year to contain at current infection rates. The worst Ebola outbreak infected over 28,000 and killed 11,000 between 2014 and 2016. As of June 15, the CDC reported 837 confirmed cases in the DRC and 19 in Uganda, with 198 deaths total.
While risk is high in the DRC and Uganda, global risk is low as the disease spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids and contaminated surfaces, unlike airborne diseases like COVID-19.
Despite low global risk, the U.S. is among 22 countries imposing travel restrictions on arrivals from these nations, criticized for hindering the response. Containment efforts face mistrust and shortages of protective equipment and transport for bodies.
The emergency funding adds to roughly $910 million already pledged for the outbreak, of which less than 10% has been received from donors, according to African health leaders.
“CDC activities are focused on controlling the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, controlling the outbreak in Uganda and ensuring our domestic readiness to respond in the unlikely event of cases,” said Pillai.
Source: www.theguardian.com