Ebola outbreak: ‘Every epidemic begins in a community and ends in a community’

Key points

• The UN health agency on Wednesday assessed there is a high risk from the Bundibugyo strain at the national and regional levels, but a low risk globally.
• Low pandemic risk – so far However, the UN agency’s emergency committee believes that, at this stage, it does not meet the criteria for a pandemic emergency.
• To date, 51 cases have been confirmed in the Congolese provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, even though the scale of the epidemic is much larger.
• WHO has tallied nearly 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths so far, with two cases linked to the outbreak detected in Kampala, Uganda.
• Because no licensed vaccine or specific treatment currently exists for this rare strain the health authorities are seeking to quickly interrupt transmission in a region marked by insecurity and population displacement.