Unprecedented Ebola outbreak in Africa could reach the UK

Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has warned that the Ebola outbreak spreading across the continent in an unprecedented manner could reach the UK and other countries. Stating that the current outbreak has reached 10,091 cases and approximately 5,000 deaths, Kaseya called on all countries to increase their preparedness levels.

Comparing the spread of the outbreak to the Covid pandemic that began in China and spread worldwide, costing millions of lives, Africa CDC Director Dr. Jean Kaseya emphasized that no country is safe unless appropriate measures are taken. Stating that for the first time the outbreak is affecting three African regions simultaneously and its geographical scope is of an unprecedented scale, Kaseya noted that he would meet with African health ministers on Wednesday to increase cross-border cooperation and call for global funding.

This crisis, identified as the 17th outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is caused by the Bundibugyo virus and has become the largest and deadliest outbreak in the country's history. Declared on May 15 in Ituri province, genetic sequencing analyses of the outbreak showed that it began in February. While 10,060 of the total 10,091 cases were seen in the DRC, where 4,887 deaths occurred, two people also lost their lives in Uganda and Kenya. While it was confirmed that the outbreak spread to Kenya and Uganda in the east, and to Nigeria's capital Abuja in the west, the first case outside Africa was detected in France in June in a doctor returning from the DRC. There is no approved treatment for the Bundibugyo virus, but vaccine studies are ongoing.