The Ebola outbreak in Africa continues to expand and causes concern among the world’s health authorities: More than 10,000 people have been infected with the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and since May nearly half have died. At the same time, confirmed patients were discovered in other African countries – in Uganda 20 were diagnosed and two died, and in Kenya nine patients were reported, two of whom died. A woman who returned from Uganda was diagnosed in Nigeria and the source of her infection is still unknown. She was transferred to a hospital in Geneva, Switzerland. Also, another patient was diagnosed with the virus in France. Additional patients were transferred for treatment in European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands.
Following the spread of the virus, the Ministry of Health updated its recommendations for travelers to Africa this week. The ministry recommends avoiding travel to infected districts in the Congo, and non-essential travel to the rest of the country. In addition, it was recommended to avoid unnecessary travel to countries bordering Congo, including Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Angola. In addition, the office recommends considering the necessity of traveling to Kenya and Nigeria.
Along with dealing with the virus, medical teams in the Congo also have to deal with violence from residents. Last Friday, a brother who worked at the general hospital in the town of Favasanda was murdered, after being attacked by young men armed with machetes and clubs. The attackers accused him and his colleague of spreading Ebola by contaminating water sources. His colleague was injured in the attack, and other staff members hid in the hospital under police protection for fear of their lives.
“There is currently no good control over the spread of the virus”
Prof. Cyril Cohen, head of the immunotherapy laboratory and rector of Bar-Ilan University, says that the scale of the outbreak is particularly worrying. “We are talking about more than 10,000 confirmed infected, and there may be many more who have not been diagnosed. The mortality rate is about 50%, a figure that illustrates how deadly the virus is. The spillover to Nigeria also indicates that there is currently no good control over the spread of the virus beyond the borders of the Congo.”
According to him, from a geographical point of view, this is probably the most extensive outbreak that happened in a relatively short period of time. “In the big outbreak in 2014-2016, in which about 28,000 people were infected, the number of cases in the corresponding period was about half of the current number. This is definitely a worrying situation, you have to remember that such outbreaks can last for many months and even years.”
However, the professor does not estimate that the outbreak will reach Israel or spread in Europe.