The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo is out of control, according to terrified experts who say it could become as serious as an outbreak that devastated west Africa between 2013 and 2016. “I’m very concerned—as concerned as one can be,” said Jeremy Farrar, head of the Wellcome Trust. “Whether it gets to the absolute scale of west Africa or not, none of us know, but this is massive in comparison with any other outbreak in the history of Ebola and it is still expanding.” More than 1,600 people have been infected in the DRC and more than 1,000 have died so far of the hemmorhagic fever. The Guardian reports the fatality rate is higher than in previous outbreaks, standing at about 67 percent. David Miliband, the head of the International Rescue Committee, called for a “reset” in the response, saying: “The situation is far more dangerous than the statistic of 1,000 deaths, itself the second largest in history... The danger is that the number of cases spirals out of control, despite a proven vaccine and treatment.”
