Suspected Ebola case in Cagliari: patient isolated, test results awaited as Congo outbreak grows

Emergency response in Sardinia

Health protocols for a suspected Ebola case were triggered in Cagliari on the evening of 30 May. A person who had recently returned from abroad and was showing symptoms compatible with the virus was extracted from their home by medical personnel wearing aseptic suits and masks. Police, firefighters, and local police supported the 118 emergency service at the scene. The patient was transported to the Santissima Trinità hospital and admitted to the infectious diseases ward under strict isolation.

The risk remains very low in Italy.

The Ministry of Health confirmed it is in contact with local health authorities in Sardinia and the Spallanzani institute in Rome, where the Ebola test sample was sent by helicopter for analysis. Results are expected in the evening of 31 May. As a precaution, Via Manno in the historic centre of Cagliari was cordoned off by law enforcement, though it remains unclear whether this is the patient's residence or that of a possible direct contact.

The wider outbreak in Central Africa

Jean Kaseya, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, stated that the Ebola outbreak devastating northern DRC and spilling into Uganda has caused 43 deaths and 263 confirmed cases as of 30 May. More than 1,100 suspected cases are currently being monitored. Kaseya warned in a Financial Times editorial that the crisis has become a crucial test for affected countries, his agency, and the African Union, because "the risk of regional spread is already a reality."

The risk of regional spread is already a reality.

The Congolese province of Ituri remains the epicentre, concentrating 88% of confirmed cases according to UN estimates. Uganda has reported nine confirmed cases, including one death. Ongoing fighting between the army and militias in the north and north-east of the country has caused constant population movement across permeable borders, saturating health systems. No authorised vaccine or specific treatment currently exists for this strain of the virus.

International response and WHO presence

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, this weekend to assess the situation firsthand and meet with national health authorities, including Health Minister Roger Kamba. Kamba told a press conference on 30 May that he expects to "defeat or contain the outbreak within four to six months."

Between four and six months to defeat or contain the outbreak.

Parallel alert in Brazil

Concern has also spread to Brazil, where health authorities in the state of São Paulo are investigating another suspected case. A man who returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo was admitted to the Emílio Ribas Institute of Infectology with febrile symptoms and placed under precautionary isolation pending test results. The clinical checks underway in Cagliari will now clarify the nature of the suspected case and rule out any risk to the population.