*Update*: Suspected cases in Brazil and Italy – WHO warns against travel bans

The Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is prompting concrete international reactions for the first time today. In Brazil, authorities are investigating two men who entered from the DRC and Uganda respectively and are showing symptoms consistent with Ebola. UOL reports that one of the suspects in São Paulo state tested positive for meningitis, while a second case has emerged in Rio de Janeiro state. Both men are in isolation.

Meanwhile, ANSA reports a suspected case in Cagliari on Sardinia: a man who recently returned from the Congo was removed from his home and admitted to hospital. The street in front of his house was temporarily closed; final tests are to be carried out at the Spallanzani Institute in Rome.

WHO warns against travel bans

The WHO is responding to growing international anxiety with a clear appeal: travel bans are counterproductive and would hamper outbreak control, according to The Straits Times. Instead, the organisation is focusing on enhanced testing capacity in the Congo – US health authorities have pledged to support the use of an experimental antibody preparation. The WHO also warns that the true scale of the outbreak could far exceed officially reported figures, as many cases remain undetected in hard-to-reach areas.

Positive news is meanwhile coming from the Congo itself: WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported five recoveries and the opening of a new treatment centre. A recovered person called on the public and health personnel to take early symptoms such as vomiting and headaches seriously and not to ignore them.

Insufficient resources in the fight against the virus

The situation remains unclear: without an available vaccine – the previously approved vaccine is effective against a different Ebola subtype – Congolese authorities are fighting with limited resources against an outbreak whose scale they themselves cannot yet fully assess. Libération writes that isolation of affected regions is massively hindering the tracing of infection chains.