Geneva: A senior World Health Organization (WHO) official warned authorities not to take the risk of Ebola spread lightly.
Mohamed Yakub Janabi, WHO regional director for Africa, said on Friday that just one Ebola case could spread the virus beyond the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
“It would be a big mistake to underestimate it, especially with a virus with this strain Bundibugyo, for which we don’t have a vaccine,” Janabi said told Reuters in an interview at WHO’s Geneva headquarters.
“So I would really encourage everyone, let’s help each other, we can bring this thing under control,” he said.
The WHO has declared the Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus as a public health emergency of international concern. However, Janabi observed that the outbreak of Ebola in Congo has had relatively little global attention compared with the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship.
