{"text":[[{"start":6.4,"text":"The world’s media has spent weeks worrying about an outbreak of hantavirus on a small cruise ship. Meanwhile a more dangerous pathogen, one that kills up to half the people it infects, has been quietly spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The latest outbreak of Ebola disease, a haemorrhagic fever, is suspected to have already killed at least 131 people and infected more than 500. It has appeared in multiple locations in eastern DR Congo, and in Kinshasa, the capital, 2,000km away. It has also jumped to neighbouring Uganda. "}],[{"start":37.2,"text":"The particular virus species, Bundibugyo, cannot be easily diagnosed with standard kits. Nor is it treatable with approved vaccines or medicines. The virus’s stealth progress prompted the World Health Organization this weekend to declare it an emergency of international concern."}],[{"start":54.400000000000006,"text":"The latest Ebola outbreak, the 17th in DR Congo since the virus was first identified in 1976, underlines the threat of zoonotic diseases, which jump from animals to people. Deforestation, human encroachment and climate change have multiplied the dangers. "}],[{"start":72.75,"text":"The outbreak probably began in March. That it gathered so much steam without earlier detection shows there are big gaps in early-warning systems. The danger is that such gaps will only widen. Health systems in poorer countries are having to adjust to lower levels of international aid, which fell by a record 23 per cent last year. The US, hitherto a champion of global public health, is now hostile to the very concept."}],[{"start":99.35,"text":"The WHO has been weakened by the exit of the US, as well as Argentina, where the hantavirus outbreak may have originated. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has previously played a leading role in containing epidemics, is in turmoil thanks to swingeing cuts by a Trump administration that holds it in suspicion. "}],[{"start":117.5,"text":"Globally, six years after the shock of Covid-19, attempts to prepare for the next major pandemic have been slow. The WHO concluded a pandemic treaty with its members last year, but crucial details, particularly concerning sharing of diagnostics, vaccines and medicines with poorer countries, remain unresolved. "}],[{"start":137.95,"text":"To make matters worse, the US, under its America First Global Health Strategy, has negotiated bilateral memorandums of understanding with more than 30 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. These trade aid for health data and specimens in a manner that critics say contravenes multilateral efforts and damages trust. "}],[{"start":159.25,"text":"This should not obscure the progress that has been made. Even though DR Congo is poor and in many ways dysfunctional, it has built up admirable expertise in tackling outbreaks of infectious disease. Through rapid testing, quarantine and vaccination — including of uninfected people using so-called “ring vaccination” — health workers have learnt how to stamp out periodic outbreaks. "}],[{"start":183.15,"text":"The task now is to build on these valiant homegrown efforts, not do active damage. Not all aid was good, and recipient countries rightly criticised organisations such as the now abolished US Agency for International Development for running parallel systems that hollowed out local expertise and undermined agency. Rich countries need to support sovereign efforts by poorer ones to build robust systems that both serve their own people and help global surveillance. "}],[{"start":211.95000000000002,"text":"Fortunately, health experts believe this Ebola outbreak is unlikely to be the cause of the next pandemic. Unlike Covid, it is not an airborne disease. Grimly, the fact that it kills its human host with such efficiency reduces its chances of rapid spread. But future outbreaks will pose bigger threats. The world looks unprepared to deal with them. "}],[{"start":241.15,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779247909_3596.mp3"}