On one-year anniversary, CDC reports on DRC Ebola outbreak

One year after the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared an outbreak of Ebola, the outbreak continues in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, with 2,698 cases and 1,813 deaths to date, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported today. The World Health Organization last month declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, citing in part the first confirmed case in Goma, a city of almost 2 million people on the border with Rwanda. WHO yesterday reported a second confirmed case in Goma. CDC activated its Emergency Operations Center in June to support the U.S. response to the outbreak after three travel-related cases were confirmed in neighboring Uganda, and has sent more than 200 experts to DRC, countries bordering the outbreak area and WHO headquarters. No additional cases have been reported outside of DRC and the risk to the U.S. remains low, the agency said. More than 171,000 people, including health care workers, have been vaccinated with an investigational vaccine during the outbreak, and CDC reports that border health officials have screened an estimated 79 million people at regional airports and at busy land borders between DRC and neighboring countries. For more on Ebola and the DRC outbreak, visit https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola.