For subscribers
Containing Ebola is hard. The US made it worse
The rapid spread of the latest outbreak is a symptom of a weakened global health infrastructure.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
A health worker screening visitors to the Kyeshero Hospital in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo on May 18 as part of Ebola prevention measures.
PHOTO: AFP
Lisa Jarvis
A rapidly unfolding Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a reminder of the value of maintaining robust global disease surveillance and response systems – and the dire consequences of weakening them.
The outbreak came to the public’s attention just days ago, but by May 19, it had grown to more than 500 suspected cases and 130 suspected deaths. Several of those cases were imported to neighbouring Uganda, and a handful have been reported in urban centres – an alarming escalation for a highly contagious virus known to kill anywhere from 25 per cent to 50 per cent of those it infects.
