Global health emergency declared in Africa Ebola outbreak; 6 Americans exposed

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:28]And good afternoon. I'm Dan Rose with 19 News coming to you again from our digital desk. We need to have a conversation about a declaration made over the really over the weekend by the World Health Organization. They have deemed this a global health emergency.

[00:00:44]We're talking about yet another Ebola outbreak in Africa. More specifically, uh the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as Uganda. They are seeing the numbers of people infected and unfortunately number of people who have died uh increasing at a rate to where they've had to give it this designation of a global health emergency. Uh all total, we're looking at about um eight confirmed lab-confirmed cases, but they've got 246 suspected cases uh in individuals. And unfortunately, so far 80 people have died in that region. It also came out over the weekend that there are six Americans who had some sort of contact or exposure uh to the uh potential of contracting this virus. One is showing possible symptoms. We're still waiting to hear who those six individuals are, uh what was their uh purpose uh in Congo or Uganda, and where are they now? We're still waiting for the CDC to confirm that and get us more information. But, uh this is not like it hasn't happened before. Since 1976, there have been 17 outbreaks of Ebola in that region of the Congo.

[00:02:03]Doesn't make it any less worrisome, especially considering the fact that there's no proven virus, there is no cure, and according to the WHO, the World Health Health Organization, it has about a 50% fatality rate. That is an extremely high number, meaning you contract this and you have a 50/50 shot of surviving it. Let's welcome in, as we have several times in the past, an expert in the field of infectious diseases, Dr. Amy Edwards with University Hospitals. Dr. Edwards, thanks for joining us. How are you today?

[00:02:38]I'm good. How are you? Not too Well, you know, staring in the face of this information, I'm not sure how we should be. So, let's start there.

[00:02:47]How should we here in Cleveland in the United States, how should we be viewing this declaration of an emergency health global health emergency?

[00:02:57]Well, I think what we should be thinking from our perspective is we know how to keep ourselves safe. We know how to protect ourselves from Ebola, the use of proper PPE, respirators, eye protection, gowns and gloves. I think the bigger question is how do we even prevent that from even becoming an issue? How do we prevent it from crossing borders? I think that's why the WHO made this declaration is because we all saw what happened in the 2010s when there was that larger outbreak, and it it went across international borders and and affected multiple countries. I think what we want to ask ourselves is we know how to keep ourselves safe. We have experience with that and we have the money and resources to do it. How do we keep that from even being something we have to worry about?

[00:03:45]What can we help with the DRC and the WHO so that it never gets to that point?

[00:03:50]And they are doing that. They are trying to contain this to that region.

[00:03:55]Unfortunately, this is a region of the world that has dealt with this before and so there is a little bit of experience there. What is it about Ebola that is so dangerous and makes it a 50% fatality rate?

[00:04:11]There are a lot of issues to Ebola and then that are specific to this outbreak.

[00:04:17]One is the virus itself or the viruses I should say there's a handful of them that can do this and they aggressively attack both the immune system and various organs in the body which is is why it has such a high fatality rate.

[00:04:32]There is not an approved treatment for this strain the Bundibugyo strain.

[00:04:39]There is a monoclonal antibody for the Zaire strain but that's not what's causing this outbreak and there's no vaccine for this strain as well. There is a vaccine for the Zaire strain which is the more lethal strain.

[00:04:54]The problem is is that every bodily fluid contains the virus and at first you're like oh well you know our fluids are inside of us but when somebody has Ebola they often develop severe vomiting and diarrhea and somebody has to clean that up. We know that um helping prepare the body for burial is an extremely high risk for getting infected with Ebola and so that kind of contact is very high risk and it requires a lot of gear gowns gloves eye protection that sort of thing and so when you're talking about a a poorly resourced area talking about gowns and gloves is one thing but do they have running water and soap to wash their hands in that village. In cities and towns, they very well may, but in smaller villages, they may not.

[00:05:53]Um and so that can present some real challenges um to reducing the spread of Ebola.

[00:06:00]Um and then you mentioned that this region has had outbreaks before. Um but from the 1970s until now, the population of the DRC has more than quadrupled. So you're talking about much denser population centers, which going back to spread just makes spread that much easier.

[00:06:17]I was um you were talking about during the process of burial where it becomes an even bigger issue. Uh some of the video I saw come out of that region uh this weekend, uh they're even spraying down the wooden cross that they placed uh on the grave of someone who died.

[00:06:33]That tells you uh how infectious this is that they're worried about anybody who touched the body, who touched the cross uh at the grave site uh for uh trying to decontaminate uh that region. Uh let's talk. Uh we did have that case, uh the woman who flew into Cleveland uh as you referenced in the late 2010s. I believe she was here wedding dress shopping uh and she had contracted it. Uh we saw in that case it didn't go any further and she had been on a plane, she'd been here in Cleveland, uh and that's as far as it went. So as far as an overall level of concern, right now it's it's in Africa. It's not here in the United States. Uh how should people view this?

[00:07:16]Overall, it is not of significant concern to us. And part of that is because it it's not a respiratory virus, right? You mentioned she was on an airplane. So if you're not coughing, right? Because it's not a respiratory virus, you're not worried about, you know, spreading it to everybody around you. It's really more and and it and I will also say that it's not clear that you can spread it in that pre-symptomatic phase. So one of the things we talk about with flu, with COVID, with with measles, is you can start spreading the virus before you have symptoms. Um with Ebola, there's no evidence that that you can spread it before you have symptoms. So, that's that's reassuring. Um and then again, going back to the it's the body fluid contact, right? Um and so, if you're feeling unwell to the point that you're vomiting and and having high fevers and severe back pain, that sort of stuff, you're not going to get on that flight, right? It's when you're asymptomatic that you're you know, mildly symptomatic, maybe when you're willing to get on a flight. And they're just not there's not an easy route for them to spread in that scenario. So, it really is health workers, family members who are taking care of sick individuals, um that sort of thing that are always at the highest risk um with Ebola outbreaks. Um in the prior outbreak that you were talking about that had spread here to the US in the in the 2010s, I think over a hundred health workers um in West Africa died in that outbreak um while trying to take care of patients.

[00:08:40]So, those those are the really high-risk individuals.

[00:08:44]Excellent, Dr. Amy Edwards. Anything else you want to add on topic?

[00:08:48]No, I think we covered it pretty well.

[00:08:50]Excellent, Dr. Amy Edwards, infectious disease expert with University Hospitals here in Cleveland. We appreciate the time. Thanks for your expertise yet again.

[00:08:59]You're welcome. Have a good day.

[00:09:00]>> You too. Take care. That'll wrap up our discussion. Just something that we want you to be educated on. Uh this is just clearly a regional issue in Africa. Uh it'll have to be monitored as you heard from Dr. Amy Edwards. Uh those six Americans that have had some level of exposure, where are they? Are they still in the country in Africa? Are there plans to get them home? Uh we'll have to watch that over the coming weeks. Uh if we have any other breaking news, it'll be here on our digital platforms. Our 3 and 1/2 hours of news and First Alert Weather is coming up at 3:00. That's of course on Channel 19, which you can also watch live on our app if you have a Roku TV, Amazon Fire, Fire Stick, or Apple TV. Go search your apps and look for 19 News Plus and you can watch us live right there. If we have any other news, we'll be right here on our digital platforms. Until then, I'm Dan DeRose with 19 News. Have a good afternoon.