DR Congo Ebola outbreak could become largest ever, warns African health agency

African health authorities have issued a stark warning that the ongoing Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo is on track to become the largest recorded.

Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, stated that if the outbreak is not contained soon, it could far exceed the devastating epidemics seen in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, and a less severe outbreak in Congo in 2018. The primary concern stems from the inability of Congolese health officials to locate and monitor tens of thousands of individuals who have been in contact with confirmed Ebola cases.

This failure to conduct thorough contact tracing significantly hinders containment efforts. The 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic, which primarily affected Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, resulted in over 11,000 deaths, highlighting the extreme danger posed by such outbreaks when they are not swiftly and effectively managed. The current situation in the DRC underscores the critical need for robust public health infrastructure and international support to combat the spread of deadly infectious diseases.

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If we do not stop the epidemic soon, it will be much worse than what we had in the last decade in West Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo.