CDC Allocates $107 Million for Ebola Response in DRC and Uganda

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will tap $107 million in emergency funding for Ebola outbreak response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, officials said on Thursday. The continued outbreak is now the third largest on record. Officials said the situation required strong immediate support, though they assessed the global risk as low.

Dr. Satish K Pillai, incident manager for the CDC’s Ebola response, said in a Thursday briefing with reporters that the agency is approaching 1,000 confirmed cases across 31 health zones in the DRC. He added that there are 31 cases in Kampala, Uganda.

The CDC reported 837 confirmed cases in the DRC and 19 confirmed cases in Uganda as of 15 June. Across both countries, 198 people have died. An outbreak of Bundibugyo viral disease began roughly one month ago along the western border of the DRC and the eastern border of Uganda.

BVD is a rare zoonotic species of Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever. The disease killed between 30% and 50% of those infected in recent outbreaks in Congo and Uganda. The CDC has 23 field staff supporting disease investigations and 125 staff members across the DRC and Uganda.

U.S. World Cup host cities. U.S. are jointly hosting the FIFA World Cup. To date, officials said local health authorities had mostly faced illnesses typical of large, Super Bowl-style events, such as heat-related illnesses.

The worst Ebola outbreak on record infected more than 28,000 people and killed 11,000 between 2014 and 2016 in west Africa and the eastern DRC. The disease is transmitted from person to person through direct contact with blood, bodily secretions and contaminated surfaces. This is in contrast to airborne diseases, such as Covid-19 and measles, which are considered far more contagious.