The United States is worried about the Ebola outbreak in the Congo-an official conflict zone

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is concerned about the outbreak of Ebola in the conflict-affected eastern Congo, where 312 cases are confirmed and probable and 191 deaths have occurred. said Thursday a USAID official.

"We are absolutely concerned about the epidemic raging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," Reuters told USAID's senior official, who works with the intervention teams. "This is not comparable to the epidemic that occurred in West Africa in 2014", which spread to nine countries and involved over 28 000 cases, she said.

But we are concerned that the current epidemic has occurred in a conflict zone in North Kivu, making it difficult for health workers to detect and isolate cases, said the manager.

"This occurs in an area of ​​active conflict, so physical insecurity is a persistent challenge and a complication for ongoing response efforts," said the manager, speaking under cover. of anonymity.

"At the present time, we do not see any cases spread over an incredibly vast geographical area," said the official, adding that most cases were in the city of Beni and more and more in Butembo.

The number of new cases has accelerated in recent weeks and neighboring Uganda has announced that it will begin to vaccinate some of its health workers against Ebola if viral haemorrhagic fever was spreading from Congo.

The World Health Organization Committee stated that the epidemic was not yet a public health emergency of international concern.

The USAID official said that the United States had deployed more than two dozen technical experts in the country to work with the Congolese Ministry of Health since the first outbreak reported in August.

Since then, the United States has also deployed disaster and health experts from USAID and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The official refused to elaborate on the responses and funding because of the security threat posed to armed groups.

Congo has suffered 10 Ebola outbreaks since the discovery of the virus near the Ebola River in 1976, in its name that allow for better patient care.