Ebola outbreak ravages Congo as second epidemic kills 484 people and experts declare ‘international emergency’

A SECOND outbreak of Ebola in Congo has already killed 484 people and health workers have warned it is an “international emergency”.

Nearly 500 people have died from the latest outbreak of the virus which was discovered in August last year with 785 people infected.

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The death rate is 61 percent.

The Ebola virus has spread rapidly across the African country, sparking fears it could now spread to other countries nearby.

Writing in The Lancet this week a number of health workers said the outbreak was out of control which was the second largest outbreak of Ebola in history.

The authors wrote: “The outbreak remains far from controlled, risking a long-term epidemic with regional, perhaps global, impacts.”

They added: “The risk of cross-border spread of Ebola virus disease to Uganda, Rwanda, and South Sudan is high.”

In the article they said “bold measures” were required and called for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to take “drastic action”.

'DRASTIC ACTION'

The situation has been hampered by fighting in the region with quarantine camps attacked by militant forces as well as people remaining distrustful of aid workers trying to help.

The article’s lead author, Professor Lawrence Gostin, a global health faculty director at Georgetown University in Washington DC urged WHO to declare the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

A PHEIC alert has only been used four times in the past - the Swine flu outbreak in 2009, a resurgence of Polio in 2014, the 2014 Ebola outbreak and the Zika outbreak in South America in 2016.

Putting out an alert though would mean a meeting of the WHO’s emergency committee which last met in October when the death toll stood at 139.

Professor Gostin and the other authors said: “Taking bold measures to prevent the spread of the disease in this country where violence is prevalent, and a famine is predicted, is critical to preventing a humanitarian disaster.”

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The academics though warned that if an alert was issued that would cause travel and trade bans coming into force which could damage the country’s economy.

In response, WHO said the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as neighbouring countries were monitoring the situation and an emergency meeting could be called.

Spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said: "If and when we see those signs, the director general will call a meeting."

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