HHS/CDC Scientists Deployed to Control Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

	September 28, 2007 – Wearing protective clothing, Thomas Stevens, a laboratorian with the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, works with samples in HHS/CDC's mobile field laboratory in Luebo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Photo credit: Chris Black, World Health Organization)
	September 28, 2007 – Dr. Serena Reeder, a scientist with the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prepares samples for analysis in the HHS/CDC field laboratory in Luebo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Photo credit: Chris Black, World Health Organization)

October 9, 2007 – At the request of the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) deployed nine staff members and a complete field laboratory to the DRC to assist the investigation of an outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in a remote province.

HHS/CDC scientists at the Special Pathogens Branch received samples from the affected area for testing and analysis, and were able to diagnose Ebola virus infection in some patients. Working with responders from the DRC Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization, Médecins sans Frontières/Belgium, Epicentre and others, the HHS/CDC team is performing diagnostic tests on site in an effort to determine the scope of the Ebola outbreak.

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a severe and highly fatal disease caused by a virus from the same family as the one that causes Marburg hemorrhagic fever. Both diseases are rare, but can cause dramatic outbreaks with human-to-human transmission and high fatality.

For more information:

• HHS/CDC Scientists Travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Fight Ebola Outbreak (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• HHS/CDC information on Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Last revised: October 16, 2007