As an Ebola outbreak continues to affect the Democratic Republic of Congo, leaders from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee are requesting a situation brief from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In a joint statement issued last week, committee chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Health Subcommittee chairwoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee chair Diana DeGette (D-CO) requested a briefing on the CDC’s efforts to monitor and contain the outbreak. To date, this most-recent epidemic has become the second deadliest in history and has spawned at least 600 cases in five months.
“The ongoing spread of Ebola in parts of Africa is both tragic and alarming,” the lawmakers said. “The Committee will continue its longstanding oversight of federal efforts to respond to emerging foreign infectious disease threats.”
In a bulletin from Congo’s health ministry, deaths were reported as high as 396 — 347 of them from confirmed cases of Ebola.