{"id":625352,"date":"2026-09-23T22:32:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T22:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/625352\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T22:32:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T22:32:31","slug":"ebola-outbreak-in-dr-congo-approaches-7800-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/625352\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebola outbreak in DR Congo approaches 7,800 cases"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Shelter for unhoused people\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Homeless shelter.jpg\" width=\"533\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\nFederal Register \/ Flickr cc<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\">In JAMA Network Open yesterday, scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Illinois public health agencies estimated the cost of a 2024\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamanetworkopen\/fullarticle\/2854315\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">measles outbreak<\/a> in two Chicago shelters for unhoused people newly arrived in the country at $8.7 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\">The economic evaluation tallied the costs of the outbreak, which took place from March 7 to April 30, in terms of the public-health response, direct medical expenses, and productivity losses\u00a0in patients in isolation or quarantine and those caring for children who missed school or daycare due to isolation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\">\u201cMeasles outbreak responses are highly intensive, requiring rapid case identification and isolation and contact management,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Cost per infection approached $153,000<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\">In total, 57 people, including 30 women (median age, 3 years) contracted measles amid the outbreak, and authorities traced 3,569 contacts (median age, 17 years). The estimated societal cost was $8.7 million, or $152,636 per measles case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\">Public-health response costs totaled $1.8 million in personnel costs, $1.4 million in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cidrap.umn.edu\/measles\/measles-outbreak-chicago-shelter-occurred-mostly-unvaccinated-case-study-shows\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">vaccination<\/a> expenses, $200,489 for lab testing costs, $104,263 for transportation, and $63,023 in other material costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\">Though the outbreak placed a considerable cost burden on both public health and health care systems, rapid disease identification and mass vaccination among shelter residents prevented a more costly and larger outbreak.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\">Direct medical costs tallied\u2009$4.4 million, mostly from hospitalizations, and estimated productivity losses were\u2009$683,895, with 17,113 lost school days.\u00a0Total health-sector and payer costs, including public health response and direct medical costs, were\u2009$8 million ($140,638 per case, and\u2009$2,246 per shelter contact).<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\">\u201cThis outbreak response was one of the most expensive in the measles postelimination era due to the large costs associated with vaccination and isolation and quarantine in hospitals,\u201d the authors wrote. \u201cThough the outbreak placed a considerable cost burden on both public health and health care systems, rapid disease identification and mass vaccination among shelter residents prevented a more costly and larger outbreak.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\">\u201cStrategies to reduce disease transmission and costs during outbreaks among undervaccinated populations living in congregate settings may include funding non\u2013health care isolation and quarantine spaces and vaccinating new shelter residents on arrival,\u201d the researchers concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal Register \/ Flickr cc In JAMA Network Open yesterday, scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[163,85,46],"class_list":["post-625352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}