Jonathan Lambert
[Copyright 2024 NPR]
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The DRC has improved testing capacity for Ebola, with two facilities operating in or near the epicenter. But this still may not be enough to keep up with a rapidly expanding disease. -
The Democratic Republic of Congo has improved its capacity for PCR testing. But it may not be enough to keep up with a rapidly expanding outbreak, and there are no approved rapid tests yet.
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Ebola cases are rising in Congo and Uganda. NPR's Jonathan Lambert explains why the outbreak may be even larger than official numbers show.
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There is an effective vaccine for Ebola — but not for the variety spreading rapidly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Trials are going on for several candidates. How long will it take? -
Three vaccine candidates are being fast-tracked to target the Ebola species spreading in Central Africa. Big organizations and companies are behind the effort, but logistics are complicated.
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It's a virus that can strike with unrelenting force. The kind of care need to knock it out is often not fully available in a lower resource country like the Democratic Republic of Congo. -
Ebola kills roughly half the people it infects, but that has more to do with the kind of care patients can access, rather than something inherent to the virus itself.
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The Ebola outbreak in Africa was announced last week, then quickly declared an emergency. It's likely that cuts in U.S. aid contributed to a delay in identifying the outbreak. -
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda concerns public health officials because of its size and because there have been so many cuts in global health.
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The sheer number of cases and deaths are a sign that the outbreak might have been smoldering before the virus was identified.
