WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is meeting with DRC President Felix Tshisekedi today to tackle Congo’s growing Ebola outbreak.
The outbreak, now the third-largest ever recorded, went undetected for weeks. Tedros spent the weekend in hard-hit Ituri province calling for more global funding before heading back to Kinshasa.
Official numbers show 282 confirmed cases and 42 deaths, with most cases in Ituri. But the International Rescue Committee says the real scale is likely much worse. The virus may have been spreading for 3 months before mid-May, and only 20% of contacts are being traced right now.
“It’s incredibly difficult to contain when 4 out of 5 contacts aren’t tracked,” said IRC’s Rachel Howard.
This outbreak is the Bundibugyo strain, which has no approved vaccine yet. CEPI just committed $60M to Moderna + 2 other groups to fast-track shots, hoping trials can start in a couple months. China is also sending medical specialists to help.
Tedros and Congo’s government say the big challenges are early detection, safe burials, and getting communities involved.
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