WHO Declares Public Health Emergency Over Rare Ebola Outbreak with 40% Fatality Rate

(CNA, Washington, 18th) The World Health Organization recently announced that an outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo ebolavirus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda constitutes an international public health emergency, with nearly 400 suspected cases and over 100 deaths to date. According to Reuters, a global study published in 2024 shows that compared to the common Zaire ebolavirus, which has a fatality rate of up to 90%, the Bundibugyo strain's fatality rate is around 30% to 40%. The Ebola virus is primarily transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals or humans, or with objects contaminated by such fluids. Bundibugyo is one of four species in the Ebolavirus genus that can cause fatal disease in humans. Transmission through bodily fluids poses a particularly high risk for healthcare workers, and in this outbreak, an American doctor working in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been infected. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the initial symptoms of Ebola virus infection are flu-like, including fever, fatigue, general weakness, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat, followed by vomiting, diarrhea, and eventually internal and external bleeding and multiple organ failure. There are currently no approved vaccines or drugs for the Bundibugyo strain. To use experimental treatments or therapies effective against other strains, an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) must be obtained. Daniela Manno, a scholar at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, stated that public health measures remain the primary means of prevention, including rapid testing, isolation, contact tracing, infection prevention and control, safe burials, and community engagement. Although testing methods for the Bundibugyo strain exist, they are not widely used. In the early stages of this outbreak, authorities analyzed samples using standard testing methods and did not detect positive results. Matthew Kavanagh, director of the Center for Global Health Policy & Politics at Georgetown University, stated that because early screening looked for the wrong Ebola strain, it led to false-negative results, wasting weeks of critical epidemic control time. By the time the situation was recognized as serious, the epidemic had already spread. The incubation period for both the Zaire and Bundibugyo strains is 8 to 10 days, sometimes up to 3 weeks. However, unlike the Zaire strain, which replicates rapidly and massively in the patient's body, the Bundibugyo strain replicates more slowly, causing damage to the human body at a slower pace, but it ultimately paralyzes the patient's immune defenses. (Translator: Chang Ming-hsuan) 1150519