The head of the World Health Organisation expressed concern over the “scale and speed” of an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola in eastern Congo, where authorities reported the suspected death toll had risen to 134, with more than 500 suspected cases.
The virus spread undetected for weeks after the first known death as authorities tested for a more common type of Ebola and came up negative, health experts and aid workers said. The Bundibugyo virus has no approved medicines or vaccines.
Congo was expecting shipments from the US and Britain of an experimental vaccine for different types of Ebola, but experts said such efforts would take time.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic”, and pointed to the emergence of cases in urban areas, the deaths of healthcare workers and significant population movement.
WHO expects the outbreak to last for weeks at least and authorities haven’t yet identified “patient zero”.
AP
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