The outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo is being considered a concern by international health authorities.

The virus has been spreading undetected for weeks in a part of the world where civil war has made it very difficult to control the situation.

What’s more, the type of Ebola involved in this outbreak is rare, meaning there are fewer tools and vaccines available to stop the virus, which kills about one in third of the infected persons.

This is considered a critical moment, as it is not yet known exactly how far the virus has spread. So far, nearly 250 suspected cases and around 80 victims have been registered, the BBC writes.

Most Ebola outbreaks usually remain small, but experts continue to remember with concern the epidemic of 2014-2016 in West Africa, when more than 28 thousand people were infected in the largest outbreak of this disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a public health emergency. of international concern, but this does not mean that the world is facing a pandemic similar to Covid-19.

The risk that Ebola poses to the world remains very low.

Even during the large outbreak of 2014-2016, only three cases were recorded in the United Kingdom, all of them health workers who had gone voluntarily to help in Africa.

“However, this shows that the situation is quite complex and requires coordination international”, declared Dr. Amanda Rojek from the Institute of Pandemic Sciences at the University of Oxford.

Meanwhile, there is still a significant risk of the virus spreading to neighboring countries such as Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda, due to close trade links and frequent movements of people between these countries.

Source: prizrenpost