A top official at the CDC says the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo could become uncontrollable.
CDC Director Robert Redfield spoke at a briefing on Capitol Hill Monday hosted by Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
At that briefing, Redfield said the outbreak has been difficult to treat and contain because of security risks, according to The Washington Post. Last month, CDC personnel were pulled from the DRC due to safety concerns, including an uptick in violence.
The outbreak began in August and has killed at least 151 people and sickened at least 265.
Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Director Tom Inglesby said if the virus becomes endemic — or maintains its presence — in North Kivu province, "this will mean that we've lost the ability to trace contacts, stop transmission chains and contain the outbreak."
As The Post points out, if that happens, the CDC will have to change its strategy — a situation Redfield says the CDC has "never really confronted."
