AFRICA Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) director-general Dr Jean Kaseya warned on Thursday that the current Ebola outbreak centred in DR Congo could spread to as many as 12 countries.

This comes as health officials race to contain what is now being described as the second-largest Ebola outbreak since the west Africa epidemic a decade ago.

Dr Kaseya said the first alert emerged on May 5 in DR Congo’s Ituri province, but initial tests failed to detect the virus because local teams screened for the more common Zaire strain of Ebola.

“When they tested Zaire, it came negative. They were thinking that it was not Ebola,” Dr Kaseya said. “Later, when we had other cases, they sent samples to Kinshasa, and in Kinshasa it was on the 14th that they discovered it was Bundibugyo.”

The director-general said confirmation that neighbouring Uganda had also recorded cases prompted the Africa CDC and regional governments to formally declare the outbreak.

The Bundibugyo strain, first identified nearly two decades ago, is far less studied than the Zaire variant and currently has no approved vaccine or targeted treatment.

“This strain was discovered 19 years ago. After 19 years, if we still don’t have vaccine medicine, it’s because it was in Africa. I can assure you that if Bundibugyo was in Europe or the US, the vaccine would be available,” he said.

The World Health Organisation has warned about both funding shortages and the growing risk of cross-border transmission.

Dr Kaseya said Africa CDC estimates that between 10 and 12 countries are now at risk from the outbreak.

He said: “This current one is the second largest Ebola outbreak after the one in west Africa. We don’t have vaccines, we don’t have medicines. We need to make sure that we are putting in place all public health measures to stop this outbreak.”