U.S. Urges Americans Not to Travel to Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Uganda

The United States strongly urged Americans not to travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, or Uganda as an Ebola outbreak spread in the region, with the U.S. State Department publishing new travel recommendations on May 19.

Newsweek said the U.S. State Department issued its highest-level warning, a Level 4: Do Not Travel, for several countries, while President Donald Trump said he was “concerned” about the outbreak.

CBS News

The U.S. Embassy in Uganda (.gov) said that on May 18 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Level 3 (Reconsider Nonessential Travel) Travel Health Notice for Ebola for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and that on May 15 the CDC issued a Level 1 (Practice Usual Precautions) Travel Health Notice for Ebola for Uganda.

The U.S. Embassy in Uganda (.gov) also stated that the Travel Advisory for the DRC lists Ituri Province as a Level 4 (Do Not Travel) area of increased risk, adding that the U.S. government is extremely limited in its ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Ituri province.

In the same guidance, the embassy said, “Do not travel to this area for any reason,” and it directed people to the CDC’s latest Travel Health Notice.

Multiple outlets tied the U.S. measures to an American medical worker infected abroad, with Le Temps saying the CDC announced that an American citizen contracted the virus in the course of his work in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Le Temps reported that the individual showed symptoms over the weekend and tested positive late Sunday, and that arrangements were being made to transfer him to Germany for treatment.

CGTN

CIDRAP said the CDC confirmed an American doctor tested positive for Ebola and was being evacuated to Germany for treatment, and it quoted Satish K. Pillai, PhD, saying, “To the American public, the risk to the United States remains low.”

RFI said the doctor worked at Nyankunde Hospital with the Christian humanitarian organization Serge, located 45 kilometers southwest of Bunia, and it said his wife and another close relative remained asymptomatic and were placed in quarantine.

RFI also said six other people were expected to be repatriated soon to the Federal Republic of Germany, while the U.S. health agency implemented entry restrictions for foreign nationals who had traveled to the affected regions in the past 21 days.

As the WHO escalated the outbreak, France 24 said the World Health Organization hosted an emergency committee meeting to address the crisis after Ebola deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo rose to at least 131 from 513 suspected cases, according to Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba.

“An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda is now a public health emergency of international concern, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)”

CIDRAP

France 24 also quoted WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying he was “deeply concerned” by an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that “spilt into Uganda,” and it said he would convene the agency’s emergency committee later Tuesday to advise on temporary recommendations.

CIDRAP described the outbreak as confirmed to be the Bundibugyo species of Ebola virus, and it said the case-fatality rate is 25% to 50% while noting that no vaccine or therapeutics target this strain.

CN Traveller said the outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus, and it reported that as of Sunday 17 May there were reports of 10 confirmed cases and 336 suspected cases, including 88 deaths, in the DRC, and two confirmed cases, including one death, in Uganda.

In its travel-focused guidance, the U.S. Embassy in Uganda (.gov) emphasized that Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with infected persons or their blood and bodily fluids, and it listed direct contact with infected corpses and contact with objects that have been in contact with infected secretions.