“The current Ebola outbreak in the DRC is caused by a strain called the Bundibugyo virus which is a distinct species of the ebolavirus family without current vaccines or treatments,” Gandhi explained.
A majority of previous Ebola outbreaks have been due to the Zaire strain, which was responsible for the 2014–2016 outbreak in West Africa, the largest Ebola disease outbreak to date.
“This particular outbreak of Ebola, a virus that can cause severe symptoms of headache, muscle aches, fever, abdominal pain, cough, sore throat and, eventually, hemorrhage and death, was initially not detected in the region because authorities did not realize this outbreak was caused by Bundibugyo rather than the more common ‘Zaire’ strain requiring a different diagnostic test,” noted Gandhi.
“By the time the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern on May 17, the virus had already spread considerably and — without any vaccines or treatment — the only way to contain the virus is isolation of someone who is sick, contact tracing, and quarantine of exposed contacts,” she told us.
“The virus is spreading because it is difficult to track and isolate all exposed cases in the middle of a conflict zone in the DRC where people may be fleeing attacks and not respond to health directives. The US withdrawal from the WHO and collapse of USAID is a huge blow to global health containment efforts as the U.S. used to be a major player in global health.”
– Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH
“Finally, the rapid rise in cases over 1 day could also reflect more diagnostic testing and active surveillance, which is helpful since exposures of those positive cases can then be quarantined,” Gandhi hypothesized.