The head of the World Health Organization has expressed concern about the scale and speed of an Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, as World Cup and summer travel nears.
Dr. Thomas Giordano, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine, said the strain is especially concerning.
“This strain, unfortunately, there’s no vaccine for it and it’s not very well, there’s not a lot of research about it because it’s a relatively new strain. It was first reported 20 years ago,” Giordano said.
The outbreak has killed at least 131 people, according to the Congolese Health Ministry, with 531 people suspected to have been infected.
The outbreak is being monitored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which described the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda as complex and fast-moving. An American missionary is among those who tested positive for the deadly disease, and an American doctor working in the Congo who tested positive for the rare variant was taken to Germany for treatment.
The CDC says it has increased travel screenings and implemented travel restrictions for people from the affected areas.
There are no confirmed Ebola cases in the United States, and health professionals continue to say the overall risk to the American public remains low.
“It is not as readily transmissible as something like COVID or flu. You really have to be in close bodily contact with someone who’s got it. Especially their body fluids,” Giordano said.
Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Philip Huang said local officials are watching the outbreak closely.
“It is still very low risk to us in Dallas County, but certainly, we’ve experienced this before and are monitoring and watching this very closely,” Huang said.
In 2014, the first Ebola outbreak in the U.S. happened in Dallas after a man contracted the disease while traveling. He later died. Two nurses who treated him tested positive for the virus but survived.
Dr. Jade Le, an infectious disease specialist, worked at a Dallas hospital during that local outbreak 12 years ago. She also spent time in Central Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer in the mid-1990s during an Ebola outbreak.
“During that time, there were concerns voiced in the community about spread of the Ebola virus,” Le said.
Le said hospitals and health officials are better prepared now.
“We have learned so much now than we did in 2014, we have right screening protocols in place, we know the questions to ask, we know the isolation procedures to put in place. We learned a lot from 2014,” Le said.
The CDC also says it is working with FIFA as the U.S. prepares to welcome international visitors for the World Cup.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo's national soccer team is set to play in Houston and could potentially play in Dallas. It is unclear if or how the travel restrictions will affect the team.
Local hospital officials say they have been preparing for the last two years for the World Cup and any situation that comes their way.
“We’re going to monitor this, we’re gonna work with the public health officials, but we don’t want people to panic. But at the same time, let’s do everything we can to prevent any problem,” said Stephen Love, president and CEO of the DFW Hospital Council.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.
