Ebola outbreak in Congo may last another 6 months, WHO officials say
pharmafile | November 14, 2018 | News story | Research and Development | Congo, Ebola, WHO, health, infectious diseases
The outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is expected to last until mid-2019, a World Health Organization (WHO) official has said.
The outbreak, which has killed more than 200 people, has been called the ‘worst’ outbreak in the country’s history.
“It’s very hard to predict timeframes in an outbreak as complicated as this with so many variables that are outside our control, but certainly we’re planning on at least another six months before we can declare this outbreak over,” WHO emergency response chief Peter Salama told reporters.
Officials have struggled to contain the disease due to challenging socio-political circumstances. The North Kivu region, in which there have been more than 300 cases so far, has been plagued by fighting since 2004.
So-called ‘tradi-modern’ health centres have also been blamed for the spread of the disease. The unregulated, informal health centres, hundreds of which are found in the town of Beni, have been described as unsanitary and unprepared for outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola.
Louis Goss
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