Top doctors from across the world have been summoned to an emergency World Health Organisation summit after the Ebola outbreak showed signs of spreading to a new country
An emergency summit of top doctors has been called after the World Health Organisation declared Ebola a ‘global health emergency’.
Over 130 people have now died after the viral haemorrhagic fever tore across the Democratic Republic of the Congo – with health experts now racing to contain the outbreak and prevent it spreading to other nations.
Yesterday, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Health confirmed that the US government had requested help to treat a citizen who had contracted Ebola. He is currently in a special isolation ward at Charité hospital in Berlin. Ebola, which causes fever, vomiting, and catastrophic bleeding, can kill those infected within just 24 hours.
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The strain behind the current outbreak, Bundibugyo, is particularly rare, complicating the response because there are no specific treatments or vaccines.
A WHO emergency committee meeting was held this evening discuss the outbreak as director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus admitted he was “deeply concerned” by the situation in DR Congo.
Reports have emerged that the outbreak is beginning to spread into Uganda. He said the group of experts pulled from across the world would “advise us on temporary recommendations”.
Anne Ancia, WHO’s DRC representative, told reporters “I don’t think that in two months we will be done with this outbreak”, pointing to a recent spate of Ebola cases in another part of the country that “took two years” to clear.
The Bundibugyo strain of Ebola has caused two other outbreaks in the past, all in the same region of the Congo River. Ebola viruses are spread through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids, such as sweat, blood, faeces or vomit. Healthcare workers and family members caring for sick patients face the highest risk, according to the WHO.
Symptoms of Ebola can appear suddenly between two and 21 days after being infected, often beginning with a flu-like illness before progressing to a more serious infection, which can cause bleeding from the eyes, ears, mouth, nose and anus.
Ebola kills about 50% of all people it affects on average, and fatality rates have varied between 25-90% in previous outbreaks.
The current Ebola outbreak poses a ‘low risk’ to Britain, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said in an update yesterday, and it is rare for Ebola cases to occur in returning travellers.
Because the World Health Organisation has issued a global health emergency, the UKHSA has activated its “response systems”, which includes publishing regular advice to the public, travellers and the NHS.
