'Whack-a-mole' Ebola outbreak could morph from epidemic to endemic, says expert

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The sporadic nature of the Ebola outbreak in Congo is being caused in part by infected, armed combatants who are leaving the illness in their wake as they prowl the conflict-ravaged nation, according to one expert.

"Since this epidemic first popped up it has had a kind of whack-a-mole effect," said Laurie Garrett, a former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.

She's also the author of Ebola: Story of an Outbreak, a book on the 1995 outbreak in the country then known as Zaire.

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"Suddenly there's an outbreak over here, and then 100 miles away there's now an outbreak over there, and then 10 miles into the rainforest there's ones here. And often it's impossible to figure out how they're connected."

Garrett told The Current's guest host Piya Chattopadhyaythis is happening because armed militants aren't seeking medical help from international responders, and are likely dying among their comrades.

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This, coupled with military violence against civilians and aid workers, is making it "almost impossible" to contain the disease.

2nd-largest outbreak

The World Health Organizationhas dubbed the Ebola outbreak in Congo the second-largest in historysince it was declared in August. It is the worst outbreak ever recorded in the West African country.

In a country that has been described the "rape capital of the world," sexual assault is also compounding the problem, as Ebola can be sexually transmitted, Garrett said.

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If the disease spreads further south toward Goma, inching closer to neighbouring countries Uganda and Rwanda, the outbreak could go from epidemic to endemic making it a common disease in the regionshe said.

To learn more about the crisis in Congo, Chattopadhyay spoke with:

• Laurie Garrett, a former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of Ebola: Story of an Outbreak.
• Karin Huster, a field co-ordinator with Doctors Without Borders, and a clinical instructor in the department of global health at the University of Washington.

Click 'listen' near the top of this page to hear the full conversation.

Written by Kirsten Fenn. Produced by Imogen Birchard.