A study suggested the current outbreak is “larger than currently ascertained” and that its “true magnitude remains uncertain” while health experts fear it has spread faster than first feared
Ashley Pemberton DAILYSTAR.UK.COM
A deadly Ebola outbreak of which there is no treatment available could be spreading faster than it was first feared, health experts warn.
A global public health emergency has already been declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after 131 people were killed and officials say more than 513 cases are now suspected in the country. One person has died in neighbouring Uganda.
Now Dr Anne Ancia, from the World Health Organisation, said they investigate the outbreak, the clearer it becomes cases have spread to other areas. One man in outbreak’s epicentre of Ituri said infected people were dying “very fast”, adding: “Ebola has tortured us.”
Modelling by the London-based MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis released on Monday suggested the outbreak had been under-detected and it could not rule out there had already been more than 1,000 cases.
Dr Ancia said DR Congo’s Ituri province was a “very unsecured area with lots of movement of population”, making it difficult for the agency to investigate and help control the disease.