Ebola Confirmed to Have Spread to Europe.

thenationalpulse.com

A French doctor has tested positive for Ebola after returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo, marking the first confirmed case in France amid an aggressive outbreak in Africa.

PULSE POINTS

❓ WHAT HAPPENED: France has confirmed its first case of Ebola after a French doctor returning from Africa tested positive for the disease.📺 DETAIL: The doctor was returning from a humanitarian trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the central African country at the epicenter of the most recent Ebola outbreak. The outbreak was confirmed by the DRC on May 15. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes the outbreak as one of the most aggressive in history. At present, over 1,000 confirmed cases and 277 deaths have been recorded. The recent outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which has no vaccine or specific treatment, making it hard to contain and cure. The virus has an average fatality rate of 50 percent, though mortality can range from 25 percent to 90 percent depending on the strain and response. Ebola symptoms include fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, sore throat, and headaches. Symptoms typically emerge from two to 21 days after exposure. The virus is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids, typically blood, as well as the organs of infected people or animals. Ebola derives its name from the Ebola River in the DRC, where it was first discovered in 1976. Since testing positive, the doctor has been put in isolation, according to the French Ministry for Health. The confirmation of the first Ebola case in France was announced on Wednesday.🎯 IMPACT: The Ministry has clarified that the risk to the wider population remains low with French health authorities conducting contact tracing to prevent the spread of the virus. However, the rapid spread of the Ebola outbreak is becoming a cause for concern among public health experts. “What is important is we need to scale up, and this outbreak is moving faster than us,” said Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud, Director of Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations at the WHO, returning from the DRC last week.📺 FLASHBACK: Back in May, public health experts warned that the ongoing Ebola outbreak could turn into a significant pandemic as the disease spreads. “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,” said Robert Redfield, former Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Redfield added: “Normally when we have these Ebola outbreaks, and I had three of them when I was CDC director, all of which were in the DRC, normally we recognize them when we have five, ten cases, you know, at most… This one really wasn’t picked up until there was over 100 cases.”