U.S. Government Responds to Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

(Left to right) Stuart Nichol from the Special Pathogens Branch of the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discusses details of coordination between HHS/CDC lab staff and clinicians with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) with an MSF physician on September 21, 2007.

Shamba Patrice (in red cap second from left), chief of Ndongo Dikolo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); Emile Mbantshi, Makonoko Health Center Nurse Director (in yellow cap); and Peter H. Kilmarx, M.D., HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Ndongo Dikolo, discuss conditions in the villages where the early possible cases of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever lived, ecologic exposures, and early chains of transmission on September 22, 2007.

September 27, 2007 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has deployed a nine-member team of epidemiologists and laboratory scientists to assist the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in investigating and containing an outbreak of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever in that country. Efforts are underway by HHS/CDC staff in the affected area to set up a field laboratory to allow the analysis of samples on site to speed diagnosis.

HHS/CDC staff based in Kinshasa are supporting the Congolese Ministry of Health and participating in national crisis-coordination meetings to strengthen surveillance and communication efforts.

Last revised: September 28, 2007