US President Donald Trump’s administration is expected to deploy US public health officers to Kenya to staff a potential quarantine facility there amid the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 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, and those who test positive, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Some members of the US public health service commissioned corps, a uniformed branch under the department of health and human services (HHS), have received notices to deploy, the report said.
The White House and HHS did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment.
A Kenyan foreign affairs ministry spokesperson said they were in the process of verifying reports about the facility being set up there.
The move comes as health authorities race to contain a fast-growing outbreak of a rare Ebola strain in the DRC and Uganda.
The World Health Organisation 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 US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asked staff to volunteer for urgent deployment to support Ebola screening at the country’s entry points, according to an email seen by Reuters.
To date no cases of Ebola disease have been confirmed in the US and the risk to the general public remains low, the CDC said.
In the DRC there have been 906 suspected cases, including 105 confirmed, with 223 suspected deaths and 10 confirmed fatalities, the CDC’s latest data showed. Uganda has reported seven confirmed cases and one death, with most infections linked to the initial cases.
Reuters
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