65 Are Already Dead, From “The Fire, This Time” — Ebola Has Reappeared, In The Remote Eastern Ituri Province, Of DRC…

Well, this is highly discouraging. But not remotely. . . surprising. Thanks, Musk and Tangerine 2.0. And the numbers are already well out of hand, with over 246 suspected cases, and 65 dead, as of this morning — there will undoubtedly be many, many more, this time.

You’ll recall that two times ago, with USAID working in concert with WHO, the deaths ended at four — and there were only ever 12 who fell ill. In this outbreak — we are already well behind the control curve. Damn. Here’s that, from the UK Guardian:

…An outbreak of Ebola has killed 65 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to African health officials.

There have been 246 suspected cases of the deadly haemorrhagic fever reported so far in Ituri province, which shares borders with Uganda and South Sudan.

Officials at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said they were concerned about the risk of further spread. The area is home to mining towns where people are constantly coming and going, making infectious disease control challenging.

The DRC has had 16 outbreaks of Ebola since the virus was identified there in 1976.

Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton in the UK, said: “The Democratic Republic of the Congo often sees fatalities from Ebola. There is likely a perfect storm of factors that cause these regular outbreaks. Close human contact with animal reservoirs, most likely bats but possibly also primates, is one factor. Other concerns include the movement of people between rural and urban environments, the tropical climate, and the high rainforest coverage….”

During the 2014-16 outbreak in west Africa there were an estimated 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths….