"We're Closing Off Our Borders To People From Africa..." Ebola Virus Outbreak Has the World Scared

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]reported and 246 cases. The World Health Organization has since declared the Ebola epidemic a quote public health emergency of international concern.

[00:00:10]Bringing in CNN's Larry Mado in Nairobi.

[00:00:14]Larry, if you can start just by telling us the state of play here um with this public health emergency.

[00:00:22]Audi experts are extremely concerned and the region here on high alert after these 88 deaths from Ebola in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

[00:00:32]The CDC saying that there are 10 confirmed cases but more than 330 suspected cases and there's also been a case reported in Uganda next door. Two confirmed cases in Uganda. One person died and was sent across the border. The other is receiving treatment. The government in Uganda tells us and the neighboring country of Rwanda saying it is adding extra vigilance at its border border checks just making sure that this does not travel across the border. But the reason why experts are concerned the first case was reported about a month ago and that a 59y old man died from that. Now this huge outbreak in an area of the eastern DRC where it's suffering from major conflict and and displacement and that means people have been traveling quite a bit. That is why the World Health Organization has declared it a public health emergency of international concern, but falling short of declaring it a pandemic emergency.

[00:01:24]The Africa CDC is supporting the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and of Uganda to deal with this.

[00:01:30]Here's what the director told CNN this morning.

[00:01:32]>> We need to open borders. We need people to fly. But what we need is to make sure that we are screening each person. We are isolating those who are at risk. and we are taking all public health measures that can protect all of us. I think for now we are on top of things >> that's going to be a major issue for a lot of countries if they are. So all right. So the reason why this is important and the reason why I'm sharing this with you guys is because there is a huge scare that people that have Ebola or that may have got may have gotten in contact with somebody with Ebola is also traveling across the world including here inside of the United States of America. So, not only do you have the Hanta virus that people are afraid of and you know they pulling these people off the boats and stuff like that, but you also have an Ebola outbreak over in the Congo and Africa and all of these different places. But now they're saying that people may have traveled to and from from these places and brought those same diseases and outbreaks here inside of the United States of America. So, the one thing again that I've always said that I've always said is that I'm not going back inside, bro.

[00:02:56]Ain't no quarantining. Figure it out.

[00:02:59]They got to figure it out because I am not going back in the house. I'm tired, boss.

[00:03:06]I'm tired, boss.

[00:03:10]They asked Trump what he thought about it. are people traveling from the DRC or from Uganda from the region who might have been infected or who are directly affected. The CDC saying it is helping relocate a small number of Americans who are directly affected. It didn't offer any more than that, but it says it's working with the inter agency partners to make sure that it's providing support to the DRC to deal with this so that you know viruses have no visas. Um Audi, they do get around and they're making sure that this is nipped in the bud.

[00:03:37]>> That's your gift for going over there to visit those countries. That's what you get for hanging out.

[00:03:44]It's a thousand different um it's a thousand different places that you can visit in your home state, in your home country and stuff like that.

[00:04:04]But you wanted to go and visit these African nations and these African countries and now they're trying to bring it back with them.

[00:04:15]>> CNN's Meg Trell is tracking this one.

[00:04:17]She's here with us now. What do you What's the latest on this? What are you picking up?

[00:04:20]>> Yeah, so of course last week we were all talking about the Haunt. So this came seemingly out of nowhere and it caught a lot of people by surprise especially from its sheer size at the time when we're hearing about it and World Health Organization authorities are talking about it as well. So as you noted there have been 10 confirmed cases but more than 300 suspected cases. 88 deaths suspected to be from this strain of Ebola and this is a strain that we don't often see. It's called Bundy Boujo and normally we see a different strain. Um two cases have also been detected in Uganda which is in a neighboring >> what's the name of it?

[00:04:52]And normally we see from this strain of Ebola. And this is a strain that we don't often see. It's called Bundy Bjo.

[00:04:57]And normally >> So it sound like booty scratcher to me.

[00:05:03]Sound like booty scratcher to me. That's what it sound like. Bundy bujo born.

[00:05:11]Chorus Bojo. Booty scratcher. It sound like booty scratcher to me.

[00:05:19]So y'all just bringing Ebola. I thought that Ebola had been eradicated.

[00:05:25]Honestly, I thought that Ebola had been eradicated.

[00:05:30]We see a different strain. Um, two cases have also been detected in Uganda, which is in a neighboring country, including one death. If you want to see essentially where this is, it's mostly centered in the Aturi province in the northeastern part of the DRC. But we do have those two cases in Uganda, and there is a lot of concern about spread around the area. So you just mentioned the WHO has declared this a public health emergency of international concern. This is a pretty big deal. And just to give you an example of what that means the previous times the WHO has declared that this isn't an exhaustive list but these are some that people will recognize. 2009 the H1 >> meaning these are things you've heard of and you remember that's when they reached to this level.

[00:06:06]>> Yeah. Exactly. And of course this is the previous time we had the largest Ebola outbreak in history 2014 to 2016. That was in West Africa. um of course these others and what this declaration really means is that this is an extraordinary event and it has international implications. This doesn't mean it's going to be a global threat. It just means that it has the possibility to spread across borders which we have already seen and requires international coordination to try to contain. Now if we want to look at Ebola um there's been a lot of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo which is of course where this is happening now. Right now we're talking about an outbreak over here. The colors here are important too because this shows that this is the usual strain that we see Zer Ebola and right now we have this different strain bundio which is in the yellow and we have only seen two other outbreaks of this strain before and problematically we have a vaccine for the zire strain of Ebola. We don't have one for this strain and so therapeutics vaccines we're not relying those on those like we have been able to before even though typically the way to contain this is to try to do contact tracing.

[00:07:08]So, they don't have a cure for it and it's killed tens of thousands of people and it's a new strain and it's evolved and it's morphed into something that's different.

[00:07:21]>> This already we have more than 300 cases, more than 80 deaths. These are the previous largest outbreaks of Ebola.

[00:07:27]This was the one in 2014 to 2016, 28,000 cases, 11,000 deaths and a previous one in the Democratic Republic of Congo as well. So, this one is large. It's already larger than many outbreaks we've seen before, but it's not yet approaching those sizes.

[00:07:41]>> I mean, let us please not reach anything close to that. What of the CDC response, the US government response, and what is they what do they believe is the actual risk to America's?

[00:07:53]>> Yeah. Right now, the CDC says the risk to the United States remains low. They have issued these travel warnings to the areas that are affected. So, level two for DRC, level one for Uganda.

[00:08:02]Essentially, be aware of this. Um there are screening methods for those countries particularly DRC at the borders >> exit screenings right. Yeah >> exactly and um it's not thought that Ebola spreads if it's not symptomatic.

[00:08:13]So fever screenings and things like that. The CDC also said as you noted they are sending folks they have um operations in those countries already.

[00:08:21]So they're trying to help with surveillance lab efforts contact tracing um efforts to control this. There are concerns that this is spreading in healthcare settings. We've heard of deaths among healthcare workers. They also note that they're supporting government efforts to coordinate the safe withdrawal of a small number of Americans who are directly affected in outbreak areas.

[00:08:40]>> So, are they going to test them >> when they when they safely remove these people from these environments and these places? Do they also test them?

[00:08:55]And how long is the incubation period?

[00:09:15]What makes Ebola so dangerous? How can a virus overwhelm the very complex defense system of the body so quickly and so effectively? Let's take a look at what Ebola does.

[00:09:31]This is from 11 years ago.

[00:09:34]>> Or DNA and a few proteins in a >> Hey, you little milk guzzler. Mom's boob is sore. Good thing Amazon helps.

[00:09:48]>> Ebola is a rare but really very deadly virus. It occurs naturally in animals, but when it spreads to humans, the results can be devastating. And that's why the World Health Organization has declared this to be a public health emergency of international concern. So the species of this virus is called the bundjo virus and it's one of three species that is known to cause outbreaks, but this one's relatively unfamiliar. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has seen dozens of outbreaks of Ebola since it was first discovered around 50 years ago, but there have only been two major outbreaks of this particular Bundy BJO virus. one in 2007 and one in 2012 and both those outbreaks killed around 30% of all those people who were infected. The virus was first identified in 1976 at the time of two simultaneous outbreaks, one in South Sudan and one in the Democratic Republic of Congo and it's named after a river near a village in the DRC where the virus was very first identified. So the virus occurs naturally in animals most commonly in fruit bats but when it comes to humans the virus is spread from one person to another through contact with bodily fluids that can be for example diarrhea or vomit. So, it's generally thought the hav virus, which we've heard a lot about after that outbreak on a cruise ship recently, is spread only through close and prolonged contact, but Ebola seems to be more infectious because it's spread through contact with bodily fluid. So, that could be blood, it could be vomit, could be diarrhea, and we've seen from previous outbreaks that it can spread really, really quickly. And we know that medical staff in particular are at heightened risk in the most serious recent outbreaks. So for example, there was a big one between 2014 and 2016 which saw 28,600 people infected right across West Africa, funeral rituals such as the washing of bodies. That proved to be a really important factor in the spread of the disease. So there was a huge public information campaign that was rolled out to try and limit the number of people who are exposed to the virus through the washing of bodies. It can take anywhere between two and 21 days for symptoms to develop. And at first they come on very suddenly. It can look like flu. So you might get a headache, you might get fever, you might get tiredness. But as the disease progresses, it can turn into vomiting and diarrhea and sometimes lead to organ failure and also some patients can develop internal and external bleeding. So this is a really serious illness. The mortality rate for the Ebola virus as a whole can be as high as 50%. For the last Bundy BJO outbreak, it was around 30%. So still a very very high mortality rate. One of the big problems with this outbreak is there is no vaccine or any approved treatment that targets the bundjo virus itself.

[00:12:39]>> So basically don't go to Africa. Don't interact with anybody that's in Africa and don't make sure that you walk around with a mask regardless of where you go. I I don't even know. I think that the Congo, Sudan, Africa, I think that most of these places are cursed,