Ebola in the DRC needs the world's attention now if your neighbour's house is on fire, you don't wait and watch | Devi Sridhar

WHO declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo a public health emergency of international concern. The designation signals an extraordinary crisis with multi-country risk that requires coordinated international response. Several hundred suspected cases and 131 suspected deaths have been reported in eastern DRC, with possible spread into neighboring Uganda. Ebola causes symptoms that progress from fever and vomiting to internal bleeding and organ failure. Most prior DRC outbreaks involved the Zaire variant, which has an effective vaccine, targeted therapeutics, and rapid diagnostics. The current outbreak involves the Bundibugyo variant, which lacks medical countermeasures. Diagnostics for Zaire failed to identify Bundibugyo, allowing spread into communities and hospitals. Without specific drugs, Bundibugyo treatment relies on general medical support, with estimated death rates of 30% to 40% among infected people.

"At the weekend the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a public health emergency of international concern. This designation is the highest alarm level the WHO has to notify its member states about a health crisis that is considered extraordinary, has multi-country risk and requires a coordinated international response."

"Usually, the director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, would convene a meeting of international health experts to discuss whether an outbreak meets the legal criteria, but for the first time in the agency's history, he went ahead and declared it after consulting the governments of the DRC and Uganda, and analysing the data presented."

"We recently learned that there are several hundred suspected cases and 131 suspected deaths from Ebola in the eastern part of the DRC and possibly neighbouring Uganda. Ebola is one of the world's most deadly infectious diseases, with symptoms progressing from fever and vomiting to internal bleeding and organ failure."

"Most of the 16 previous outbreaks of Ebola in the DRC have been caused by the Zaire variant. For Zaire, we have a highly effective vaccine, targeted therapeutics and rapid diagnostics. Unfortunately, this latest outbreak is of the Bundibugyo variant, which does not have any medical countermeasures. Part of the reason that Ebola has been spreading for weeks undetected in communities, and into hospitals, is because rapid diagnostics for Zaire failed to identify the Bundibugyo variant. Without specific drugs, the treatment for Bundibugyo is general medical support, with death rates estimated at between 30% and 40% of those infected."

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