CDC supporting stepped up response to Ebola in DRC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with the U.S. Embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to preposition staff in Goma to rapidly identify Ebola cases and prevent further spread of the disease in hotspots where the security situation permits, the agency said last night. The World Health Organization yesterday declared the Ebola outbreak in DRC a public health emergency of international concern, citing in part the first confirmed case in Goma, a city of almost 2 million people on the border with Rwanda. CDC said it has 43 permanent staff in DRC and about 200 in the bordering countries of Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan. The agency activated its Emergency Operations Center in June to support the interagency response to the outbreak following confirmation of three travel-associated cases in Uganda. “Make no mistake, the challenges to stopping the Ebola outbreak are growing steeper and the public health response will unquestionably be longer,” said CDC Director Robert Redfield, M.D. The agency said the U.S. risk from the DRC outbreak remains low based on travel volume and patterns from the outbreak area. For more information on Ebola, visit https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola.