The Trump administration is considering sending Americans who may have contracted Ebola to Kenya, rather than treating them in the US.
The US has already moved to ban entry to immigrants and even legal residents who have visited the Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in recent weeks.
The New York Times has now found that, rather than monitor potentially infected Americans in Kenya and transfer those with symptoms for treatment in Europe, Americans will remain in Kenya.
A Trump official told the NYT that a treatment facility with quarantine features is already being set up in Kenya in case Americans develop symptoms.
US public health officers are being sent to Kenya to deal with Americans who have been exposed or test positive for the deadly virus.
At least 220 people have died of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo since an outbreak was declared earlier this month.
The strain of Ebola causing the current spread is the Bundibugyo strain, which doesn’t have a vaccine currently.
Scientists in Oxford are working on one, but it likely won’t be available for at least six months.
Ebola can be contracted through contact with the bodily fluids of a dead person; the virus has spread during mourning and funeral proceedings in previous outbreaks.
Local officials say the attacks are down to a lack of awareness, with some seeing Ebola as a ‘white man’s invention’ or a cash-grab by hospitals.
The WHO said the outbreak does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency like COVID-19, and advised against the closure of international borders.
Although more than 20 Ebola outbreaks have taken place in Congo and Uganda, this is only the third time the Bundibugyo virus has been reported.
The average case fatality rate is around 50 per cent. Case fatality rates have varied from 25 per cent to 90 per cent in past outbreaks.
A person infected with Ebola cannot spread the disease until they develop symptoms.
Good outbreak control relies on applying a package of interventions, namely case management, infection prevention and control practices, surveillance and contact tracing, a good laboratory service, safe and dignified burials and social mobilisation.
Early supportive care with rehydration and symptomatic treatment improves survival.
There is no licensed treatment proven to neutralize the virus, but a range of blood, immunological and drug therapies are under development.
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