WHO Says Ebola Epidemic Is Outpacing Response as Suspected Deaths Reach 220

The World Health Organization said Monday that suspected deaths in the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa have reached 220 and that the epidemic is moving faster than the response, according to Al Jazeera. “We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment the epidemic is outpacing us,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, adding that a delay in detecting cases left responders “playing catch-up.” Al Jazeera reported that more than 900 suspected cases have been identified in Congo as surveillance has expanded, and that Uganda now has seven confirmed cases after two health workers at a private Kampala facility tested positive.

The tally has climbed quickly. CBS News reported on Saturday 82 confirmed cases and seven confirmed deaths in Congo, with almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths, per the WHO. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which no approved vaccine or treatment exists. Newsweek reported that the FDA-approved antibody treatments Inmazeb and Ebanga are ineffective against it. Historically about 30 percent to 50 percent of Bundibugyo patients have died, but the Pan American Health Organization estimates the current outbreak’s rate at 55 percent to 60 percent, Newsweek said.

Fear and mistrust are hampering the response in Ituri province, the epicenter. Al Jazeera reported that over the weekend residents of Mongbwalu set fire to a Doctors Without Borders tent for suspected and confirmed cases, and 18 people with suspected infections left and were unaccounted for. Newsweek said the tent was empty and that the hospital director, Dr. Richard Lokudi, said the act caused panic among the staff. On Thursday, a treatment center in Rwampara was burned after family members were barred from retrieving a body, according to Al Jazeera, and Newsweek reported that security forces used tear gas and warning shots. On Sunday, attackers stormed Mongbwalu General Hospital demanding two bodies, Al Jazeera reported. A spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders told Newsweek that trust-building is essential to any response.

The government has required officials to handle burials of suspected victims where possible, which has prompted protests, and on Friday it banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people in the northeast, Al Jazeera reported. Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency physician at Brown University who survived Ebola in 2014, told CBS News he is especially worried about health care workers. CBS also reported that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said three Congo Red Cross volunteers working in Mongbwalu died in May after apparently being infected on duty on March 27, among the first known victims of the outbreak.

In the United States, the CDC expanded enhanced screening on Saturday to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest, after beginning it at Washington Dulles on May 20, Newsweek reported. The agency calls airport screening one layer in a “layered prevention approach” that also includes overseas exit screening, mandatory airline illness reporting and post-arrival monitoring. Newsweek said a May 18 directive, amended May 22, suspends entry for foreign nationals who were in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days. No U.S. cases had been confirmed, Newsweek reported.

Tedros urged countries bordering Congo to take immediate action, Al Jazeera reported. The WHO has declared the outbreak an international public health emergency and rates the risk in Congo as very high, with the global risk low, according to CBS News.