The Trump administration is expected to deploy U.S. public health officers to Kenya to staff a potential quarantine facility there amid the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The facility, which was pending approval from the Kenyan government as of Tuesday, is intended for Americans who have been exposed to or at high risk of testing positive for the virus in the region, as well as those who test positive, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
In past outbreaks, Americans exposed to the virus were sent home to be treated in state-of-the-art facilities.
The Trump administration has already flown some U.S. citizens to Europe for treatment.
Some members of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, a uniformed branch under the Department of Health and Human Services, have received notices to deploy, a report said.
The move comes as health authorities race to contain a fast-growing outbreak of a rare Ebola strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain, the third-largest such outbreak on record, a public health emergency of international concern.
Ebola is a severe and often fatal disease transmitted through direct contact with infected bodily fluids.
Earlier on Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked staff to volunteer for urgent deployment to support Ebola screening at the country’s entry points, according to an email seen
To date, no cases of Ebola disease have been confirmed in the U.S. and the risk to the general public remains low, CDC said.
In Congo, there have been 906 suspected cases, including 105 confirmed, with 223 suspected deaths and 10 confirmed fatalities, CDC’s latest data showed. Uganda has reported seven confirmed cases and one death, with most infections linked to the initial cases.
The US has a major infectious disease test center at Kombewa in Seme, Kisumu County called Walter Reed.
There was no comment from Kenyan officials over the plans.
The outbreak involves a rare species of Ebola, known as Bundibugyo, which has no proven vaccine and kills about a third of those infected.
On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the public health risk from the virus in DR Congo from “high” to “very high”.
WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said the risk in the wider region in Africa was high but remained low globally.
The country’s neighbour Uganda confirmed three new cases on Saturday, bringing its total infections to five, while the African Centres for Disease Control warned 10 other countries on the continent were at risk from the outbreak.
It named Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.
DR Congo suspended all commercial and private flights to and from Bunia – the provincial capital of Ituri, where most cases and deaths have been reported – to curb “cross-border spread”.
“Humanitarian, medical or emergency flights will only be authorised after special approval from the aviation and health authorities,” the country’s transport ministry said in a statement.
Along with Ituri, cases have been detected in the North and South Kivu regions.
Parts of the two eastern areas are under the control of rebel group M23, whose clashes with government forces has brought additional difficulties in dealing with the virus.
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