DR Congo’s Ebola outbreak ‘not an international emergency’

WHO confirms 3 new cases in Mbandaka amid fears virus could travel down river to Kinshasa

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) can be brought under control and is not an international public health emergency, experts advising the World Health Organisation said on Friday.

Earlier in the day the WHO had said the first confirmation of Ebola in Mbandaka, a city of about 1.5 million people, had prompted it to declare a “very high” public health risk to the country and a “high” risk to the region. Three new cases of Ebola were later confirmed in Mbandaka on Friday, in a part of the city next to the Congo River.

The ministry said in a statement late on Friday that the new cases had been reported on Thursday in the neighbourhood of Wangata, next to the river, and samples tested positive for Ebola. Another suspected case surfaced on Friday.

The outbreak, Congo’s ninth since the disease made its first appearance near the northern Ebola river in the 1970s, has raised concerns that the virus could spread downstream to the capital Kinshasa, which has a population of 10 million.

The WHO’s Emergency Committee of 11 experts said the rapid response had mitigated the risk from the outbreak, which was declared 10 days ago and has killed 25 people since early April.

“Interventions under way provide strong reason to believe that the outbreak can be brought under control,” the committee said in a statement.

They decided not to declare a “public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC).

However, committee chairman Robert Steffen said the “vigorous” response to the outbreak must continue.

“Without that, the situation is likely to deteriorate significantly,” he said in Geneva.

Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust medical charity and an infectious diseases expert, said the decision not to declare an emergency was “the right one for the time being,” but should be kept under review.