Ebola deaths top 1,000, NYC Legionnaires cases hit 82: Doc explains both outbreaks

(NewsNation) — The Ebola outbreak, declared May 15, has become the fastest in the disease’s history, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Congo’s Ministry of Health has recorded almost 2,500 cases and more than 1,000 deaths, with over 700 patients currently hospitalized or isolated.

“This is a perfect storm of multiple different factors colliding together,” said Dr. Syra Madad, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Harvard Belfer Center.

Madad told NewsNation’s Jesse Weber the strain driving this outbreak, Bundibugyo virus, has no approved vaccine or proven treatment, unlike the Zaire strain from past outbreaks. She said the virus also spread for weeks before it was reported to the World Health Organization, giving health teams less time to respond, and that armed conflict and displacement in the region have made containment harder.

“Eighty percent of the newly confirmed cases are not on anybody’s list,” Madad said, meaning undetected chains of transmission are spreading in the community. She said a phase one clinical trial for a vaccine targeting this strain began at the University of Oxford, two weeks ago, but added it is unlikely to affect the current outbreak in the near term.

What is Legionnaires’ disease and how does it spread?

In New York City, health officials are continuing to investigate a Legionnaire’s disease cluster on the Upper East Side. The city has recorded 82 cases and five deaths since the outbreak was confirmed three weeks ago, with eight patients still hospitalized. No new cases have been reported in 10 days.

Madad said Legionnaires’ disease, a bacterial pneumonia spread through contaminated water systems, is common in New York summers, with 200 to 700 cases typically reported each year. She said recent deaths reflect exposures from one to two weeks ago, rather than an ongoing spread.

Health officials say they have identified live Legionella bacteria in 34 cooling towers across 33 buildings, all of which have since been cleaned. Madad said confirming the exact source requires culturing bacteria samples and matching them to patient cases, a process that can take weeks.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation.