DAKAR, Senegal: The second-largest Ebola outbreak in history has enhanced health experts’ worry as it is spreading to a main city in eastern Congo. Experts have concerns whether the limited stock of an experimental vaccine will fulfill current requirements of a plague which is believed to be rising rapidly.
According to current reports, Butembo which is a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, contains over 1 million residents, has reported with numerous cases of the deadly hemorrhagic fever.
Medical officials have worries for Ebola containment work that already faced challenges in the result of rebel attacks while it cannot be tracked accurately elsewhere the virus almost arrived or wrapped as to access a number of isolated villages is impossible, said in latest report.
John Johnson, project coordinator with Medecins Sans Frontieres in the city, said in latest report, “We are very concerned by the epidemiological situation in the Butembo area,”
However, the medical charity also highlighted a rapid rise is appearing in the isolated districts, eastern suburbs and remote regions. The second largest Ebola outbreak was declared on 1 August, and now it has wrapped West Africa by killing over reportedly 11,300 people some years ago.
If Congo’s health ministry’s announcement on Thursday is to be believed that tells 471 Ebola cases are reported of which 423 has been confirmed, together with 225 reported deaths. The ministry has vaccinated having no team members more than 41,000 people so far, while latest second outbreak could have already experienced over 10,000 Ebola cases.
On other side, medical officials have experimental Ebola vaccine still waiting for more doses as recent a stockpile contains 300,000 doses which is owned by Merck.
Dr. Peter Salama, emergencies director for WHO, said in this week’s statement, “We are extremely concerned about the size of the vaccine stockpile,” also added that 300,000 will not be standing up current demands as urban Ebola outbreaks are getting more common in this nation.