Ebola is confirmed in Congo city of 1.2 million

NAIROBI, KENYA » Congo has confirmed a case of Ebola in Mbandaka, a city of 1.2million, marking the first urban case in the latest outbreak, which is now the most serious since the epidemic that raged across West Africa between 2014 and 2016.

Ebola is much harder to contain in urban areas, so this development compounds the risk of contagion. The World Health Organization’s lead response official called the new confirmed case “a game changer.”

Previously, confirmed cases had been limited to a remote area more than 100 miles south of Mbandaka, in the rainforest of Congo’s Equateur province. The new, urban case is only the third confirmed case of the current outbreak; 20 others are probable, and 21 are suspected, bringing the total of potential cases to 44. The death toll stands at 23.

“This is a major development in the outbreak,” said Peter Salama, the WHO’s deputy director general of emergency preparedness and response. “We have urban Ebola, which is a very different animal from rural Ebola. The potential for an explosive increase in cases is now there.”

Given the signs of a worsening outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has assembled a team that is ready to deploy to Congo once the WHO finishes assessing its needs and the logistical challenges of transporting experts into the remote outbreak locations.