US CDC warns Congo Ebola outbreak could be on level of 2014 West Africa outbreak

By Bonface Mulyungi

U.S. CDC model scenarios show that without strong public​health interventions, the current outbreak ‌of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo ​could become as large as, ​or even larger than, the 2014-2016 ⁠West Africa outbreak, the agency ​said on Friday.

The Centers for Disease ​Control and Prevention published three Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report documents on the ​outbreak on Friday in part ​to marshal resources across the international community, Dr. ‌Satish ⁠Pillai, the incident manager for CDC’s Ebola response, said in a briefing.

In modeled scenarios where a ​low number ​of ⁠patients isolate sufficiently, the outbreak could become one of ​the largest ever documented, said ​Jason ⁠Asher, Director of CDC’s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics.