WASHINGTON – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is escalating its response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, after the World Health Organization labelled the outbreak a public health emergency.
The agency plans to deploy additional staff to the affected countries and will provide technical support including laboratory testing, contact tracing and surveillance through its country offices, said Dr Satish Pillai, the CDC’s Ebola response incident manager, on a call with reporters on May 17. It has also activated its emergency response centre.
“The risk to the United States remains low,” Dr Pillai said. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo ebolavirus strain and has no approved vaccine or treatment. Infected people can transmit Ebola when they are symptomatic, he added.
The actions come after the WHO declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on May 17 – stopping short of a “pandemic emergency” declaration – as it looks to mobilise support against the rare strain of the virus. The WHO said the strain has likely been spreading undetected in the region for weeks.
Congo has reported eight confirmed cases, 246 suspected infections and 80 suspected deaths in the Ituri province, according to the WHO. Uganda has recorded two infections and one death among travellers from Congo.
The CDC did not confirm whether Americans in Congo have been exposed to the virus.
The agency was notified of the outbreak in Congo on May 14 and the Uganda outbreak on May 15, Dr Pillai said. The Atlanta-based agency is identifying employees to deploy to the countries early this week and add to the more than 30 people already on staff in each country, Dr Pillai said.
The agency has also posted two travel health notices for Americans to practice enhanced precautions. The impacted countries have exit screening strategies in place at local airports to monitor infections, and the US is adding measures to identify symptomatic people at ports of entry, Dr Pillai said.
The cross-border transmission, unexplained clusters of deaths and major uncertainty about the scale of the outbreak caused the WHO to designate the outbreak as the highest level of international concern.
“This event is considered extraordinary,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the declaration, which is intended to mobilise international funding and response efforts. It’s the first declaration of this type since mpox was designated a global health emergency in 2024.
The CDC is also working to contain an outbreak of hantavirus linked to a cruise ship that has killed three people. Currently, 41 people who were exposed to the virus are being monitored. BLOOMBERG
