ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to spread. So far, there are more than 800 suspected and confirmed cases, including more than 180 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. The organization describes the risk level in the DRC as very high. Local officials and aid groups are currently mounting a response to manage this outbreak, the first major one since the dramatic cutting of U.S. health aid programs by the Trump administration. NPR global health correspondent Fatma Tanis joins us now. Hey, Fatma.
FATMA TANIS, BYLINE: Hi, Adrian.
FLORIDO: Tell us about this Ebola outbreak. How did it start?
TANIS: So we started hearing about the first cases around 10 days ago. It was really quickly escalated to an international health emergency by the World Health Organization. So this is a rare strain of the Ebola virus, and there's no vaccine for it. Health officials had been testing people for regular Ebola, and it was coming back negative. It wasn't until they sent the samples back to a lab in the capital, Kinshasa, which is about 600 miles from the outbreak zone, that they realized they were dealing with a different variant. And it's partly because of that that experts think the disease was likely spreading undetected for a while.
And now local officials say they're really trying to catch up and contain it. So neighboring countries, Uganda and Rwanda, have closed their borders. Most flights in the area are no longer available, but those borders are also known to be porous, so the WHO says there's a high risk that this could spread regionally.
FLORIDO: Give us a sense of exactly where in the DRC this is happening.
TANIS: So it's spreading in the northeast part of the country, called Ituri province. It's rural and remote, so not a lot of roads, but towns are densely populated. More than 4 million people are living in that area. And it's also been mired in conflict. You know, rebel groups have been fighting the Congolese government. There's been a lot of displacement. People are constantly on the move trying to get to safety.
And aid groups tell me many of them don't have access to basic hygiene, like soap or clean water. And it's also a mining area. So people do travel there for work. Now, global health experts say all of these conditions are complicating efforts to contain the spread of the disease.
FLORIDO: Tell us more about what the response is looking like so far.
TANIS: I've been speaking to several aid groups, and they say they're ramping up - you know, flying in staff, setting up isolation zones for patients, trying to figure out how to properly dispose of contaminated materials. But they also say they're facing a lot of challenges. On top of what I mentioned earlier, there's a global medical supply shortage because of the war in Iran and the disruptions to key shipping lanes. Then there's the challenge of getting supplies into the DRC with the border closures and the lack of roads.
So they need a lot of sanitation and protection items for health workers - things like masks, gloves, disinfectants. Ciaran Donnelly is the head of crisis response for the International Rescue Committee. Here's what he told me.
CIARAN DONNELLY: Those supplies are also in short order on the ground, where many clinics don't have the basic PPEs to protect from even simple, easily transmissible diseases, and let alone something that's as contagious and fatal as Ebola.
FLORIDO: How are people who live in the region reacting to this outbreak?
TANIS: What I'm hearing from aid groups on the ground is that there's a lot of fear around Ebola, and it's leading to conspiracies and misinformation. Another layer here is the existing distrust of authority and outsiders, which Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has said is a serious issue with this outbreak.
So, for example, on Thursday, a hospital was set on fire when people demanded the release of a body of a relative who had died of Ebola. But this disease can spread from corpses, so they need to be decontaminated and buried properly. And also today, the Associated Press is reporting that 18 people with suspected Ebola cases escaped from a treatment facility.
So safety messaging is a big part of what humanitarians are doing right now. They're broadcasting messages on the radio. They're sending staff to churches, villages, markets to build trust and inform people about how they can protect themselves.
FLORIDO: Fatma, what are you hearing about how the Trump administration's elimination of U.S. foreign aid, which you've reported a lot on, is impacting this situation?
TANIS: So global health experts are telling me, look, this disease is bad on its own, but, also, the Trump administration's policies may have weakened the systems built to manage this situation. Here's Robyn Savage with the aid group CARE.
ROBYN SAVAGE: When we did this last time, there was health infrastructure in place. There was funding to the ministries of health. There were trainings. There were refresher trainings. The system was working.
TANIS: You might remember there was a big outbreak in 2014.
FLORIDO: Yes.
TANIS: A lot of lessons were learned then that helped with all the other outbreaks since, but aid groups say much of that expertise is now missing because of these policies.
FLORIDO: Well, what actions is the Trump administration taking in response to this outbreak?
TANIS: So there's a temporary travel ban on people traveling from the DRC and several other African countries that are seen as risky. They've also designated certain airports in the U.S. to screen Americans who are traveling back from the DRC and Uganda and South Sudan.
FLORIDO: I've been speaking with NPR's global health correspondent Fatma Tanis. Fatma, thanks.
TANIS: Thank you.
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