BU Experts on New Ebola Outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Original article from BU Today by Barbara Moran May 31, 2018
On May 8, 2018, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) declared a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease centered on the market town of Bikoro, near the DRC’s border with the Republic of Congo. This is DRC’s ninth Ebola outbreak since 1976; the most recent outbreak occurred in 2017.
The Ebola virus, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids, causes severe illness that is often fatal if untreated. The 2014–2016 West Africa outbreak, the largest in history, killed more than 11,000 people. As of May 28, the DRC outbreak included 51 cases and 25 deaths.
BU Today spoke with two Boston University Ebola experts about the unfolding situation in the DRC. John Connor, a School of Medicine associate professor of microbiology and an investigator at BU’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories, studies better ways to diagnose Ebola virus disease. Nahid Bhadelia, a MED assistant professor in the section of infectious diseases, is the medical director of the Boston Medical Center Special Pathogens Unit, which is designed to care for patients with highly communicable diseases. During the West African outbreak, Bhadelia made four trips to Sierra Leone to care for patients, work with survivors, and collect public health data.