The number of known Ebola cases has now increased to 17, with the risk of the deadly virus spreading further dubbed "high." The WHO has not yet declared an international health emergency.
Image: Reuters/K. Katombe
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Congo's health ministry issued a statement late Friday confirming three new cases of lethal Ebola virus in Mbandaka city. A single case of Ebola in Mbandaka, a city of 1.2 million people, was confirmed last week.
There are now 17 confirmed and 43 possible Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At least one person has died of the disease.
Health officials are trying to locate more than 500 people who they believe have been in contact with those feared infected. But the task is extremely challenging in Mbandaka, a densely populated city that is an hour's flight from the capital Kinshasa.
Mbandaka is just an hour's flight from the capital Kinshasa
As of May 15, health officials had identified 527 contacts between people believed to be infected with Ebola. Earlier this week, more than 4,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine arrived in Congo as part of the Unite Nation's efforts to stem the outbreak.
Ebola is a near-fatal disease that causes a hemorrhagic fever that often leads to massive internal bleeding.
This is the ninth Ebola outbreak in Congo in four decades. The last major Ebola outbreak hit the eastern African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, killing some 11,000 people.
Despite the rapid spread of the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday decided against declaring an international health emergency.
There is "strong reason to believe this situation can be brought under control," said Dr. Robert Steffen, who chaired the WHO expert meeting on Friday. But without a vigorous response "the situation is likely to deteriorate significantly," he added.
The WHO acknowledged that "the confirmed case in Mbandaka, a large urban center located on major national and international river, road and domestic air routes increases the risk of spread within the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to neighboring countries."
"We're certainly not trying to cause any panic in the national or international community," Peter Salama, the WHO's deputy director general for emergency preparedness and response, told reporters Thursday.
Q&A with DW's Helena Humphrey on the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC.
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"What we're saying though is that urban Ebola is very different phenomenon to rural Ebola because we know that people in urban areas can have far more contacts so that means that urban Ebola can result in an exponential increase in cases in a way that rural Ebola struggles to do."
"This is a concerning development, but we now have better tools than ever before to combat Ebola," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO's director-general. "WHO and our partners are taking decisive action to stop further spread of the virus."
Despite the highest safety standards, people in Europe and the US have been infected with the Ebola virus. Protective suits and airports checks are being used to prevent the further spread of the disease.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Woitas
Protective clothing
Proper protective clothing for doctors and nurses is critical. All exposed skin must be covered with a material that cannot be penetrated by the virus. But the suit alone isn't enough: Proper procedure is also important.
Suiting up
Health care workers must practice correctly putting on a protective suit, as seen here at the special isolation unit in Dusseldorf. New suits are used every time, so there is no risk of infection when getting dressed. Unprotected workers are therefore able to help.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Federico Gambarini
Completely separate
The patient rooms in the Dusseldorf isolation unit are completely shielded from the outside world. Air is filtered, and wastewater must go through a separate treatment process. The protective suits, used at all times in the ward, are kept at positive pressure. These measures go further than is necessary: While Ebola can be transmitted by contaminated objects, the virus is not airborne.
After the patient is treated, the entire suit is sprayed from the outside with a disinfectant to kill off any potential viruses. Only after this shower can the suit be removed - cautiously.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Sebastian Kahnert
Outside help
When removing the protective suit, health care workers must exercise extreme caution. Using permanently installed protective gloves, outside assistance can be provided without coming into direct contact with the suit. After use, the suit is immediately disposed of and burned.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Federico Gambarini
Infected nurses
Despite the high safety standards, a total of three nurses in Spain and the United States have contracted the disease. The circumstances surrounding the infection have not yet been clarified. The nurses' homes (as seen here in Texas) were sealed off and disinfected after the discovery of the transmission.
Image: Reuters/City of Dallas
Protection in Africa
Doctors and nurses in West Africa have now also been outfitted with protective suits. However, these do not always meet the standards deemed necessary for effective protection. Sometimes, small areas of skin are left unprotected, or the material used in the suit is permeable. In addition, putting the suit on and removing it can be risky.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
Isolating the dead
Extreme caution is also necessary at the funerals of people who have died of Ebola. A West African tradition, which sees the family of the deceased wash the body has led to many new infections. For mourning friends and family, these strict isolation measures are often hard to understand.
Image: Reuters/James Giahyue
Tent as isolation units
In a region where medical care is extremely underdeveloped, such an outbreak provides a daunting challenge. Infected people, like here in Liberia, are cared for in hastily constructed tents. But even a country like Germany would probably be overwhelmed by such an epidemic. At the moment, the country only has around 50 beds set up in isolation units.
Image: Zoom Dosso/AFP/Getty Images
Incineration instead of sunlight
In some of the affected West African regions, contaminated suits are hung out in the sun in an attempt to disinfect them for further use. But it's much safer to burn the clothing immediately after use, as seen here in Guinea. However, supply shortages and the high prices of suits make such advice difficult to follow. Protective clothing can cost between €30 and €200 ($40-$250).
Image: Cellou Binania/AFP/Getty Images
Airport controls
Air travelers represent the biggest threat when it comes to transmission of the virus over long distances. For this reason, travelers' temperatures are now being monitored at some airports. However, this method does not provide absolute security: Ebola's incubation period is up to 21 days.
