A team of infectious disease specialists from Rome's renowned Spallanzani Institute, civil protection officials and foreign intelligence agency (AISE) have returned to Italy from a mission to Ebola-hit DRC, where there are at least 344 confirmed cases of the disease, which has killed at least 60 people.
The Italian team arrived in DRC's capital, Kinshasa, last week to help manage the Ebola emergency, and to date the team the only one from a European country to have done so.
The objectives of the mission were to strengthen epidemiological surveillance, give technical assistance, and deliver medicines and medical supplies to help combat the epidemic affecting the Central African country. There is currently no vaccine or treatment available for the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola present in DRC.
The foreign and health ministries helped the civil protection department coordinate the Italian mission and the department will continue to provide scientific and operational support for any further DRC requests and needs.
