EU says risk of Ebola infection in the bloc is ‘very low’

• Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak a public health emergency: WHO
• Outbreak spread undetected for weeks in conflict-hit Congo.
• No vaccine available for Bundibugyo strain, may take months to develop.

BRUSSELS: The risk of an Ebola outbreak in the European Union is “very low” and “there is no indication” that Europeans need to take further steps beyond the standard public health advice, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

“We know that diseases do not stop at the borders, and this is also the case of Ebola,” spokeswoman Eva Hrncirova told reporters.

This was why the European Union was doing “everything” it could to support the central African region hit by the outbreak, she added.

The World Health Organisation has declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has killed more than 130 people, an international health emergency.

Hrncirova said the EU was doing “plenty” to help the DRC.

“For example, there is a… humanitarian air bridge on its way, so we will soon deliver essential material to DRC, medicines, protective material, infection control material, and some tents,” she said.

Super-spreader event suspected

The outbreak has alarmed experts because it has been able to spread for weeks undetected across a densely populated area ravaged by widespread armed violence. 

A 2018-2020 outbreak of the Zaire strain of Ebola in the same region was the second deadliest on record, killing nearly 2,300 people.

The Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids from infected people or animals, has an average fatality rate of around 40%, according to the WHO.

Breaking down the figures in this outbreak, the WHO said 51 cases had been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu. 

Uganda has also informed the WHO of two confirmed cases in the capital, Kampala, including one death among two individuals who travelled from Congo to Uganda.

A U.S. citizen who was working in Congo has also been confirmed positive and has been transferred to Germany, the WHO said.

WHO experts said that they suspected the outbreak likely started a couple of months ago, with the first suspected death reported on April 20, and investigations were ongoing.

WHO officials believe that after the first death, there was then a super-spreading event either at a funeral or a healthcare facility. On May 5, a super-spreader event was detected with a social media report of deaths in the communities, they said.

On May 12, the provisional government along with the WHO sent an investigation team where they collected samples. Eight out of the 13 samples were confirmed as Ebola.

There is currently no vaccine available for the Bundibugyo strain. WHO experts said that two possible vaccines are under consideration but could take between three and nine months to be developed and need clinical trials.

— With additional input from Reuters