Africa's top public health official is urging Canada and other countries to increase support for the Ebola response as confirmed infections in the Democratic Republic of Congo exceed 10,000. Speaking to CBC News on Friday from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Dr. Jean Kaseya warned that continued transmission could bring substantial spread across borders and potentially to other continents.
The latest report from Congo's public health institute puts the death toll above 5,000. Authorities declared the outbreak in mid-May, although scientists believe the Bundibugyo strain may have circulated unnoticed for months in remote parts of the country. Conflict, distrust among the public and the absence of an approved vaccine or treatment for that strain have made containment more difficult.
The crisis is Congo's largest Ebola outbreak and the fastest-growing recorded anywhere. Only the West African outbreak of 2014 to 2016 was larger, infecting more than 28,000 people, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that the current outbreak could exceed that total within a year if it maintains its pace.
Smaller numbers of infections have been reported in Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria. Nigeria's case was its first in a decade. The patient, the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat, was transferred to Switzerland for treatment on Monday, joining other patients evacuated to Europe during the outbreak. Kaseya said further imported cases remained possible as responders struggled to contain community transmission in new parts of Congo.
Kaseya said Canada's risk remained low, but argued that helping stop transmission in Africa would further protect Canadians. Originally from Kinshasa, he has considered Canada home since 2013 and has headed Africa CDC for three years. His wife lives in Laval, Que., and his three children attend university in Toronto. He encouraged Canadians to take the outbreak seriously without panicking and to ask parliamentarians for additional support.
Canada pledged $8 million toward the response in May, with $2 million allocated to Africa CDC for stronger surveillance and biosecurity. Health Canada authorized Moderna in late July to begin a clinical trial of a vaccine targeting Bundibugyo. The federal government also imposed temporary border measures and issued outbreak alerts for Kenya and Nigeria in October. The Public Health Agency of Canada told CBC News this week that it was monitoring developments and could revise those measures as evidence and conditions changed.
Canadian researchers are also collaborating with Congolese scientists to better understand the virus. University of Winnipeg microbiologist Jason Kindrachuk said the teams had sequenced more than 1,000 genomes. Their work is examining the virus's behaviour and whether existing vaccines might provide cross-protection against Bundibugyo, but funding constraints threaten their ability to sustain sequencing and testing.
Kindrachuk called for larger, sustained investment from wealthy countries, including Canada. Kaseya welcomed Canada's contributions and its cooperation with African health officials, while warning that the crisis could continue for months without wider assistance. He said responders would keep working to protect countries around the world, but could not guarantee that protection without the support needed to stop the outbreak.
