An optimistic US official: the Ebola outbreak in Congo can be controlled

By Giulia Paravicini

KINSHASA (Reuters) – Leading expert on Ebola virus in US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the disease (CDC) indicated that he thought that an outbreak could be declared in Congo quickly under control and that the high rate of new cases is due largely to the improved detection .

The outbreak of hemorrhagic fever in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is thought to have killed 144 people since July and infected 79 others. Cases have accelerated significantly in recent weeks

The World Health Organization (WHO) said last week that the epidemic will last at least another three to four months and possibly spread to Uganda and Rwanda due to the precariousness and mistrust of the residents of health workers.

But Pierre Rollins, who has been studying the Ebola virus for three decades, believes that it could potentially be contained in a month or two, at Searching for new patient contacts.

"We compared the evolution of this epidemic to other epidemics to see if the increase had been faster and whether there had been any difference "said Rollins during an interview.

What happened last week was that the Ministry of Health decided (…) to look for cases more actively because they would see cases that had no connection with patients already processed or saved as known contacts. "

He added that the introduction 10 days ago, a new program supported by the World Bank to pay people over the phone to report cases encouraged a faster reporting.

Nevertheless, the attacks against health workers hindered the response and prompted the US government to withdraw the CDC and USAID workers from the front lines in August

Some who remained on the ground were less optimistic. Emergency made up of WHO experts said on Wednesday that the outbreak was likely to worsen significantly if the response was not strengthened.

Safety in the US Eastern Congo is bad because of the presence of dozens of militias who attack local populations and exploit natural resources …

(Edited by Aaron Ross and Kevin Liffey)

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