Former CDC director warns Ebola outbreak ‘going to become significant pandemic’ | World | News
A former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director has warned he believes the Ebola outbreak will escalate into a “very significant pandemic”.
Robert Redfield stated on Wednesday, May 20 during an appearance on NewsNation: “I suspect this is going to become a very significant pandemic, probably going to leak into Tanzania, leak into southern Sudan, maybe leak into Rwanda.”
“So, it’s going to be very disruptive.”
Ebola is a highly infectious disease spread through contact with bodily fluids. It often triggers fatal haemorrhagic fever, swift multi-organ failure and internal or external bleeding.
The majority of outbreak cases have been confirmed in Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
Health officials in both countries reported 536 suspected cases, 105 probable cases, 34 confirmed cases and approximately 134 suspected deaths from the outbreak, according to the CDC.
Redfield’s remarks follow just days after the CDC commenced screening certain travellers at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Wednesday, May 20 as health authorities respond to the outbreak.
The CDC also announced earlier in the week that any US passport holder who has visited the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan within the past three weeks will be prohibited from entering the country. The ban will remain in place for at least 30 days, according to an order issued by the CDC on Monday.
Ebola cases continue to spread across swathes of East and Central Africa, prompting the World Health Organization to declare the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
At least six Americans are reported to have been exposed to Ebola.
An American doctor who contracted Ebola in the DRC has been airlifted to Germany for treatment, accompanied by his wife and four children, as the World Health Organization raised alarm over the “scale and speed” of the outbreak.
“This is an outbreak right now that is really a significant outbreak that’s of significant public health international concern, partially because what you said, it wasn’t recognized very quickly. I’m not sure why,” Redfield said.
US President Donald Trump also voiced his concerns about the Ebola outbreak this week.
When pressed by a reporter on his worries about the virus, Trump responded: “[I] certainly am.”
“I think that it’s been confined right now to Africa, but its something that has had a breakout.”
