Ebola Outbreak in Congo - SANRU

Ebola :: Ebola Outbreak in Congo - SANRU

Dr. Bill Clemmer, a missionary based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is working with international agencies in an effort to confront an outbreak of the Ebola virus in that country.

At least five deaths from the virus have been confirmed. Over 160 persons have died of the more than 350 people afflicted with what the World Health Organization had called a "mysterious disease," in a region of Southern Congo, according to published reports.

Clemmer and his wife Ann serve in Congo through International Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA.

Clemmer said his wife and children are safe, and told International Ministries Tuesday that the U.S. Center for Disease Control (based in Atlanta, GA) has asked that SANRU, a faith-based health agency managed by Clemmer, partner with the CDC to confront the outbreak in the southern province of Kasai Occidental.

Now that Ebola has been confirmed in at least five of seven blood samples sent to their labs, international organizations are responding with urgency. A team from the CDC is due in the nation''s capital city of Kinshasa at the time of this writing.

SANRU -- which means "rural health" -- is co-managed by Interchurch Medical Assistance World Health, and The Church of Christ of Congo. International Ministries is a partner of Interchurch and the Church of Christ is the International Ministries partner through which Clemmer has served as head of SANRU since 2000.