U.S. aid worker in Congo tests positive for rare Ebola strain

A U.S. citizen working for a humanitarian organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo tested positive for the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, and federal health officials were working with the person’s employer and partners in Congo to stop further spread and identify high-risk contacts.

Bundibugyo virus is a type of Ebola virus that spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids, contaminated materials or the bodies of people who have died from the disease. No vaccine or specific treatment exists for this species, according to the World Health Organization, and the outbreak is unfolding in a remote, densely populated and insecure area where humanitarian conditions make control efforts harder.

Federal health officials assessed the overall risk to the American public and travelers as low, and no Ebola cases linked to this outbreak had been confirmed in the United States. Public health entry screening and entry restrictions for travelers from Congo, Uganda and neighboring South Sudan took effect on May 18, while CDC teams and other partners expanded surveillance, laboratory diagnostics and infection prevention work in eastern Congo.

The CDC put the outbreak at more than 1,000 confirmed cases within 40 days of response activation, a pace far quicker than the 2018 North Kivu outbreak, which took about 235 days to reach the same mark. This is Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak since 1976 and only the second caused by Bundibugyo virus.

By July 1, the World Health Organization had recorded 1,460 confirmed cases and 452 deaths in Congo. By July 10, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control put the country at 1,792 confirmed cases and 625 deaths, with 764 patients isolated in hospital and 78.6% of identified contacts under follow-up in Ituri and North Kivu. The ECDC said transmission had spread across Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, with two cases also reported in Kisangani in Tshopo province, one linked to Ituri.

WHO recorded an imported Bundibugyo case in a medical doctor returning to France from Congo on June 24, and the ECDC identified a separate imported case involving a U.S. citizen medically evacuated to Germany in May. In northeastern Congo, Ebola response workers protested over pay.