How disturbing is Ebola explosion in the RD of Congo?

It has spread for weeks without being discovered in a part of the world where civil war makes it difficult to cope with the virus, and the species of Ebola involved is rare, so there are fewer means to prevent a virus that kills between a third and half of the infected people.

This is a critical moment in an explosion where there is uncertainty about how widespread, but there are already almost 250 suspected cases and 80 deaths.

Most Ebola explosions tend to be small, but specialists are concerned by the 2014-16 outbreak. Then 28,600 people in West Africa became infected with the greatest outbreak of disease ever.

The announcement of a public health emergency with international concern by the World Health Organization (OBSH) does not mean that we are in the early stages of a Cardi-style pandemic.

The danger Ebola poses for the whole world remains small. Even at the outbreak of the outbreak in 2014-16, there were only three cases in the United Kingdom, and all were health - care workers who offered themselves voluntarily to help.

But this reflects that the situation is complex enough to require international co-ordination”, says Dr. Amanda Guardsk, from the Institute of Pandemic Sciences at Oxford University.