Risk of Ebola spread is high regionally but low globally: WHO

BUNIA, Congo, May 20, (AP): The World Health Organization said on Wednesday the risk of spread of the Ebola virus in Congo and Uganda is high at national and regional levels, but low at the global level. The risk assessment came as the leader of the WHO team in Congo said the outbreak, which has led to over 130 suspected deaths, could last at least another two months as aid efforts intensified to stem the spread.

WHO has declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, requiring a coordinated response. On Tuesday, it expressed concern over the "scale and speed” of the outbreak. Worried residents in eastern Congo have reported rising prices for face masks and disinfectants following the outbreak of the rare type of Ebola, known as the Bundibugyo virus.

It spread undetected for weeks following the first known death, while authorities tested for another, more common Ebola virus, which came up negative, health experts and aid workers said. There are no approved medicines or vaccines for the Bundibugyo virus. So far, 51 cases have been confirmed in Congo's northern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, as well as two in Uganda, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.

Beyond that, there are 139 suspected deaths and almost 600 suspected cases, he said. "We know that the scale of the epidemic is much larger,” he said. "We expect those numbers to keep increasing.” Congo was expecting shipments from the United States and Britain of an experimental vaccine for different types of Ebola, developed by researchers at Oxford, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, a virus expert at the National Institute of Biomedical Research, told reporters on Tuesday.

"We will administer the vaccine and see who develops the disease,” he said. A U.S. national who tested positive for the virus in Congo arrived in Berlin on Wednesday for treatment in a special isolation ward at the Charité hospital. A "comprehensive examination” was taking place to determine how to proceed with treatment, German Health Ministry spokesperson Martin Elsässer said.

He said he wouldn’t comment on the patient’s condition. The German authorities and the U.S. CDC have not identified the patient. Separately, the Christian aid organization Serge said in a statement that one of its doctors - which it identified as American medical missionary Dr. Peter Stafford - has been evacuated from Congo "and is receiving specialized medical treatment” after he developed Ebola symptoms.