{"id":668756,"date":"2026-05-27T20:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668756\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T20:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:53:16","slug":"europe-beefs-up-ebola-detection-as-congo-epidemic-surges-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668756\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe beefs up Ebola detection as Congo epidemic surges \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this week Italy reported two suspected cases among passengers who had arrived from Uganda, but they later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecdc.europa.eu\/en\/ebola-virus-disease-outbreak-democratic-republic-congo-and-uganda\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">tested negative<\/a> for Ebola, the disease prevention agency said.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Belgium has direct daily flights to and from Congo. Brussels Airlines said Wednesday it is making changes to its crew schedules given that the United States <a href=\"https:\/\/pro.politico.eu\/news\/218513\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">has banned entry to the country from the region<\/a>, but added: \u201cThese changes are being implemented without affecting the current flight schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn times like these, flights are more vital than ever to keep the region connected and to allow vital medication and medically trained personnel to reach the affected areas,\u201d the airline said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/press.brusselsairlines.com\/brussels-airlines-adapts-processes-to-maintain-stable-operations-across-its-long-haul-network\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">statement<\/a>. The airline, which is part of the Lufthansa Group, added that it remains \u201ccommitted to maintaining its flight schedule whenever possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This deadly outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no treatments or vaccines. The World Health Organization said talks were ongoing with developers of two <a href=\"https:\/\/pro.politico.eu\/news\/its-a-wrap-at-the-world-health-assembly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">experimental vaccines<\/a>, while German diagnostic firm Altona said it aimed to provide a test for the specific Ebola strain in the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/pro.politico.eu\/news\/218930\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">coming weeks<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ongoing conflict in the region and the rare viral type are making it almost impossible for health workers to stop the spread of the infection, the WHO told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>Health facilities have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c0l22pz6nw6o?at_campaign=Social_Flow&amp;at_link_type=web_link&amp;at_link_id=A4E5FBB8-583E-11F1-BE07-B0CA161A9F50&amp;at_medium=social&amp;at_link_origin=BBC_News_Africa&amp;at_ptr_name=facebook_page&amp;at_format=link&amp;at_bbc_team=editorial&amp;at_campaign_type=owned&amp;fbclid=IwY2xjawSDuKNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeLahPohy_seH8iIgWcjpgF3uc0aW_28XmT37A59Rxt-osQEGDvqPEPcAryUU_aem_ma7ugug35hidf6tjZZU37Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">come under attack<\/a> by local people on occasion because relatives wanted to take the bodies of their loved ones for burial \u2014 a practice that can lead to further infections.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Europe\u2019s disease agency is pooling more resources from a network of experts to send more help. This larger presence will help it \u201cgather more detailed information on exit screening, which &#8230; is crucial to reduce risk by identifying travellers who are symptomatic,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n<p>It will also help ensure that the agency\u2019s risk assessments and recommendations for European countries and their citizens are prompt and up to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this week Italy reported two suspected cases among passengers who had arrived from Uganda, but they later&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[4324,15106,86521,43850,97,8871,281202,45433,5599,289083,21784],"class_list":["post-668756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-airlines","tag-belgium","tag-democratic-republic-of-congo","tag-global-health","tag-health","tag-infectious-diseases","tag-pandemic-preparedness","tag-prevention","tag-public-health","tag-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus","tag-uganda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}