France Confirms First Ebola Case in Doctor Returning from DR Congo
Rachel Savage, The Guardian
France confirmed its first Ebola case in a doctor who returned from the DRC outbreak zone. The patient is in stable condition and isolated, as health officials begin contact tracing. The DRC outbreak has already caused over 1,000 confirmed infections and 267 deaths.
On the day of the announcement, the French Ministry of Health confirmed the first Ebola case on French soil. The patient is a doctor who returned from a humanitarian mission in an active outbreak area in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the epicenter in the northeastern Ituri province.
The ministry's statement said: 'The patient has been transferred to a specialized medical facility in stable condition. All preventive measures, including isolation, were implemented upon the patient's return to France, along with a safe hospital transfer to prevent any risk of transmission.'
French health officials are now tracing individuals who had contact with the patient; they will be required to self-isolate at home for 21 days. Authorities stressed that the risk to the general European public remains very low.
The current Ebola outbreak in the DRC was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 15 and designated a Public Health Emergency of International Concern two days later. As of June 21, according to the latest data from the DRC Ministry of Health, there were 1,048 confirmed cases and 267 deaths, while 112 people had recovered. Neighboring Uganda has recorded 20 cases and 2 deaths.
However, experts believe the virus had been circulating in the DRC for weeks before detection, meaning the outbreak's true scale may be far larger than confirmed cases suggest. The humanitarian response has been complicated by aid cuts and conflict in North and South Kivu provinces, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group operates and Ebola cases have also been found.
WHO official Abdirahman Mahamud said Tuesday that this outbreak had the highest number of confirmed cases in its first month compared to any previous Ebola outbreak. He also noted that local community resistance to the response efforts in the DRC, including arson attacks on hospitals and treatment centers, is declining. 'More and more communities are aware of the risk of Ebola and are requesting tools for support and self-protection,' he said.
The current strain is the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccine or treatment. Modeling by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests this outbreak could be the largest ever recorded. The previous major outbreak in West Africa from 2014 to 2016 infected over 28,000 people and killed more than 11,000.
This is the DRC's 17th Ebola outbreak; the virus was first discovered there in 1976. Scientists believe the virus spreads from infected fruit bats to humans and then transmits between people through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected or deceased person. Initial symptoms include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat, which may progress to vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, rash, and impaired kidney and liver function.
A U.S. citizen who was treated for Ebola in Germany recovered and was discharged earlier this month after testing negative for the virus since May 30. In a related development, Kenya's Health Minister on Tuesday ordered a halt to the construction of an Ebola isolation facility for U.S. citizens in Kenya, following a high court ruling that the previous administration had ignored.
