Ebola spreads to major Congo city as vaccines a concern

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Ebola spreads to major Congo city as vaccines a concern

By CARLEY PETESCH and CARA ANNA
December 7, 2018

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The second-largest Ebola outbreak in history has spread to a major city in eastern Congo, as health experts worry whether the stock of an experimental vaccine will stand up to the demands of an epidemic with no end in sight.

Butembo, with more than 1 million residents, is now reporting cases of the deadly hemorrhagic fever. That complicates Ebola containment work already challenged by rebel attacks elsewhere that have made tracking the virus almost impossible in some isolated villages.

“We are very concerned by the epidemiological situation in the Butembo area,” said John Johnson, project coordinator with Medecins Sans Frontieres in the city. New cases are increasing quickly in the eastern suburbs and outlying, isolated districts, the medical charity said.

The outbreak declared on Aug. 1 is now second only to the devastating West Africa outbreak that killed more than 11,300 people a few years ago. There are currently 471 Ebola cases, of which 423 are confirmed, including 225 confirmed deaths, Congo’s health ministry said late Thursday.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/86fd89fa73594ed0aa098c6c5a063300

[SWBTATTReg]

1. I hope that the powers that be are closely watching this...I don't have any confidence that ...

rump and cronies are paying attention to anything else other than saving their asses now a days. Once this deadly disease gets out of containment, this could kills thousands more.

[LonePirate]

2. If the virus starts spreading in a city of 1M people, the entire world needs to be worried.

Containment becomes almost impossible at that point short of closing the country’s borders and that might not even be enough.