The head of the World Health Organization said he’s “deeply concerned about the scale and speed” of the Ebola outbreak sweeping through the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda after the death toll climbed above 100 people early this week.
At least 131 people have died and 531 cases are suspected in the outbreak, according to Congolese health authorities. The outbreak has alarmed health officials around the world because the rare Ebola strain involved, known as the Bundibugyo virus, has no known vaccine or treatment.
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Ebola is a virus with four strains caused by the orthoebolavirus. Symptoms include fever, aches, diarrhoea, vomiting, and unexplained bleeding, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms usually begin 8-10 days after exposure to an orthoebolavirus. It spreads via human-to-human connection.
The mortality rate for Ebola averages at around 50%, but there have been outbreaks with a 90% mortality rate.
The outbreak began in Congo and likely spread unchecked for weeks, as contact tracing in the region has proven difficult.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the disease could spread rapidly because of “significant population movement.”
Ituri, the Congolese province where the outbreak started, attracts a large migrant population due to its gold mining industry and is also home to many people displaced by nearby conflict. Ghebreyesus said more than 100,000 people have been uprooted in recent months.
He also warned that the lack of vaccines and treatments for the rare strain has heightened fears the outbreak could spread further and lead to more deaths, especially among healthcare workers.
The virus has begun spreading into urban areas, including Kampala, the capital of Uganda, and Goma in eastern Congo.
On Monday, an American medical missionary serving near the outbreak’s origin point tested positive for the virus. Soon after, the CDC invoked an emergency public health rule to seal U.S. borders to those who have recently been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan.
“This order is necessary to protect the health of the United States from the serious risk posed by the introduction of Ebola disease into the United States,” the CDC said.
The latest figures marked a sharp increase from over the weekend, when the WHO first declared a health emergency in the region after more than 250 cases and 88 deaths were linked to the virus.
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The last major Ebola epidemic occurred between 2014 and 2016, when nearly 28,000 people were infected. The disease spread to the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy and resulted in more than 11,000 deaths.
