Africa's top doctor urges Canada to boost Ebola support as outbreak tops 10,000 cases

ADDIS ABABA · Africa's top public health official is urging Canada and other Western nations to increase their support to contain the world's fastest-growing Ebola outbreak, warning of "massive" spread across borders. Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed 10,000 confirmed cases. He told CBC News from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that without more help, the virus could reach other continents. "No one is safe today," Kaseya said in an interview on Friday.

Kaseya, who is from Kinshasa but has called Canada home since 2013, singled out Canada as an ally but said more can be done. "This is my message to Canadians: No fear, no panic, but take it seriously, and even talk to your parliamentarians, talk to other people you know, if they can provide more support for this outbreak," he said. He added that he wants to return to his family in Canada but needs to stop the outbreak first. The death toll in Congo has surpassed 5,000, according to the country's public health institute.

The outbreak, first declared in mid-May, involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola and is now Congo's largest ever. It is the second-largest Ebola outbreak recorded globally, behind only the 2014-2016 West Africa crisis that infected more than 28,000 people. "If this outbreak [continues] like that, with the same magnitude, in one year we'll have more than what West Africa had in two years and a half," Kaseya said. He warned it would not be confined to a few countries and could affect other continents.

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A smaller number of infections have appeared in neighbouring Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria, which reported its first Ebola case in a decade this week. That patient was flown to Switzerland for treatment. Kaseya said imported infections could continue as teams struggle to slow community transmission in new areas of Congo. He said the risk to Canada remains low but implored officials to "move from low to zero by supporting [Africa] to stop the outbreak where it is currently."

Canada committed $8 million to the Ebola response in May, including $2 million for Africa CDC. Health Canada also authorized Moderna to launch a clinical trial of a vaccine targeting the Bundibugyo virus in late July. The federal government has introduced temporary border measures, including outbreak alerts for Kenya and Nigeria. "The Government of Canada will continue to monitor the situation closely and may adjust these measures, as appropriate, based on evolving evidence and the epidemiological situation both in Canada and internationally," the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement.

Canadian research teams are also studying the virus. University of Winnipeg microbiologist Jason Kindrachuk said Canadian and Congolese scientists have sequenced more than 1,000 genomes to understand how the virus is behaving. He stressed there are "finite resources" for the collaborative work. "We're trying to scramble with funds from whatever sources we have to be able to keep things like genome sequencing alive, to keep testing alive … so I think at some point we need to see bigger investment, and certainly sustained investment, from the high-income areas of the world," Kindrachuk said. "I think there's a real need for Canada and other countries to step up."

With files from CBC News