Ebola deaths rise sharply as ‘scale and speed’ of outbreak concerns WHO

The death toll from an Ebola outbreak in central Africa rose sharply Tuesday, with the head of the World Health Organization expressing concern over the “scale and speed of the epidemic.”

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At least 131 people are believed to have died and 531 suspected to have been infected, according to the Congolese Health Ministry. An American missionary was among those who tested positive for the deadly disease .

Global health experts are worried about the capacity of this outbreak to cause widespread illness and death in central Africa — not least because this rare strain of Ebola, the Bundibugyo virus, has no approved vaccine or treatment and a shortage of available tests.

The outbreak was also undetected for weeks, adding to the complexities in containing it. It has ripped through a region riven by civil war and conflict, while health officials said funding shortages were further hampering their ability to fight Ebola.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said early Tuesday that he was “deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic.”

The State Department said that it was “strongly” urging Americans not to travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan or Uganda “for any reason.”

The State Department also said in a statement on Tuesday that the U.S. is going to fund up to 50 Ebola response clinics.

“The United States is committing to rapidly supporting the Ebola outbreak response by funding up to 50 treatment clinics, and associated frontline costs being established in Ebola-affected regions of the DRC and Uganda” the State Department said.

“This U.S. funding commitment will accelerate the delivery of frontline medical care, life-saving humanitarian assistance, and critical outbreak response capabilities to communities at greatest risk,” it added.

Most cases have been in towns at the heart of the region’s gold-mining industry, which necessitates cross-border travel. But they have also been reported as far away as the rebel-held city of Goma, 230 miles from the outbreak’s epicenter in the eastern Ituri province, as well as in neighboring Uganda.

The number of suspected cases has risen dramatically from the 300 believed infected and 88 killed as of Monday.

There have been only a couple of previous Bundibugyo outbreaks — one in Uganda in 2007 and one in Congo in 2012. The fatality rate during those incidents ranged from 30% to 50%, according to the WHO.

The WHO’s emergency committee is set to convene later Tuesday to discuss the outbreak.

The United Nations’ health agency said ​six tons of ‌supplies were set to arrive in Congo on Tuesday, including ⁠personal protective equipment and ​other medical supplies.

President Donald Trump said that he too was “concerned” about the situation, noting that the outbreak was so far confined to central Africa. Health experts say the likelihood of Ebola spreading in wealthy countries is very low because it spreads through bodily fluids rather than in the air.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory for doctors about the outbreak, recommending that any patients who may have been exposed to the virus and have symptoms of Ebola be hospitalized in isolation and tested.

Among those infected is a U.S. citizen who has tested positive and been flown to Germany, Tedros told the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva.

Germany was doing so at the request of the U.S. government, a German Health Ministry spokesperson told NBC News. The country has “a nationwide network of experts for the management and care of patients with diseases caused by highly pathogenic agents,” the spokesperson said.

An American missionary named Dr. Peter Stafford has tested positive for the virus, according to the international missionary organization Serge. He was exposed while treating patients in Nyankunde Hospital in the northeastern corner of Congo, where he has worked since 2023, Serge said.

He got tested after presenting with symptoms of the virus, which includes fever, muscle fatigue, diarrhea and vomiting.

Two other physicians working in the region, including his wife, Dr. Rebekah Stafford, and another man, Dr. Patrick LaRochelle, remain asymptomatic but were keeping to strict quarantine protocols, Serge said.

It was not clear from the missionary group’s statement whether Stafford was the same American being airlifted to Germany.

Trump left the WHO in January, citing what he said was its poor management of the Covid pandemic.

Health officials and experts have said this, along with Trump’s slashing of bodies such as the now-dismantled U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, could hamper the response to the current outbreak and others like it in the future.

“Under USAID, the U.S. had people directly involved in the emergency operations center in DRC, people that would be aware of what the laboratory capacity was, and when there were gaps and things weren’t running well, that we were troubleshooting that with the government,” a former USAID official said. “That capacity is gone.”

Amid a global cost-of-living crisis, other Western governments have also cut their aid programs.

Anne Ancia, the WHO’s representative in Congo, said Tuesday her organization had been working “very well” with the U.S. government on the Ebola outbreak but that reductions in health funding have had a “tremendous impact” on its ability to counter the disease.

The State Department said it was “false to claim that the USAID reform has negatively impacted our ability to respond to Ebola.”

“In fact, by bringing USAID global health functions under the new GHSD bureau at the State Department, our efforts are more aligned and effective,” a spokesman said, referring to the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy. “Funding and support to combat Ebola continue, working with allies and partners, with additional announcements forthcoming.”