Please note: This transcript has not been edited and may contain errors. 00:21:22 Operator

Good afternoon and thank you all for standing by. For the duration of today's call all listeners are in a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer session. At that time, credentialed members of the media, you can press star one to ask a question or star 2 to withdraw a question.

Today's call is being recorded; if you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. And now I'd like to introduce Mr. Benjamin Haynes. Thank you, sir; you may begin.

00:21:51 Benjamin Haynes, CDC Moderator

Thank you Fran, and thank you all for joining us. CDC continues to support response efforts for the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Today we'll hear from Dr. Satish Pillai, who is leading CDC 's Ebola response; he will provide an update on the current outbreak and CDC 's response efforts.

We are also joined by Dr. Kevin Chatham-Stephens, the Deputy Incident Manager for Domestic Preparedness. He will provide more information about what we're doing in the United states to prepare for any potential Ebola cases. Following their remarks,, we'll open it up for your questions; with that, I'll turn the call over to Dr. Pillai.

00:22:33 CAPT Satish K. Pillai [suh-TEESH puh-LYE], M.D., M.P.H., Incident Manager for CDC's Ebola response

Thank you Ben, and thank you all for joining us again.

This remains a growing and highly concerning Ebola outbreak, and CDC continues to work closely with the ministries of health in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda as well as other international partners to support response efforts and help stop transmission.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to brief the HHS Secretary on the current situation and CDC 's response activities. We are very concerned about the trajectory of cases which are rising rapidly as well as the continued geographic threat.

This is now the second largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded in DRC and the third largest Ebola outbreak documented globally.

Therefore, as of today, CDC is raising our Ebola response to a Level One activation, which represents the highest level of response at CDC.

Elevating the response level reflects the urgency, scale and complexity of the outbreak and allows CDC to bring additional resources to support the coordination and operational needs of our response.

This outbreak requires an aggressive, multi-pronged approach focused on rapidly identifying and isolating cases, supporting testing, strengthening infection prevention and control, tracing contacts, facilitating safe and dignified burials, and working with communities to reduce transmission.

As of today, there are more than 1100 cases confirmed between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. And we expect this number to grow for some time.

These trends are consistent with the trajectory we have been discussing for several weeks and with CDC 's recently published modeling, which showed that rapid and sustained public health interventions are urgently needed to keep this outbreak from surpassing the other two large outbreaks of Ebola that we've seen both in West Africa in 2014 to 2016 as well as the 2018 to 2020 north Kivu DRC outbreak.

One of the cases that has been recently widely reported is an imported case into France. This is in a person who is providing humanitarian medical care in the DRC. According to French authorities, the individual reported his symptoms to French authorities upon arrival in France and was immediately isolated. Public health investigations and contact tracing began immediately, and this individual is now receiving care.

While importing cases can occur during large outbreaks, there's currently no indication of community transmission associated with this case.

And there have been no reported exposures involving U.S. citizens associated with this case. Our assessment that the risk to the United states continues to remain low.

CDC will continue to work closely with international partners on this investigation. The rapid identification and isolation of this patient demonstrates the value of preparedness investments and surveillance systems that many countries have strengthened following previous Ebola outbreaks.

To that point, while the risk of Ebola spreading in the United states remains low, as part of prudent public health planning, CDC continues to work alongside federal public health partners and state, territorial, local and tribal health departments to prepare for any potential cases in the United states.

Dr. Kevin Chatham-Stephens is our Deputy Incident Manager for Domestic Preparedness, and he's here to tell you more about these efforts.

00:26:50 Kevin Chatham-Stephens, M.D, Deputy Incident Manager for CDC's Ebola response

Thanks so much, Dr. Pillai, and good afternoon, all. So, as Dr. Pillai mentioned I'm going to talk a little bit more about what CDC does to support U.S. healthcare and public health systems in preparing for potential domestic Ebola case.

The reason the risk of Ebola spreading in the U.S. is considered low is because the U.S. has robust domestic and public health capacity to contain and control an Ebola outbreak.

It's important to note CDC and our state and local health departments have responded to viral hemorrhagic fever cases in the past, including a case of Lassa fever in 2024, and have prepared for Ebola cases associated with other international Ebola outbreaks including the outbreak in DRC just last year.

Through these efforts, the U.S. has the tools to rapidly identify cases, appropriately triage and enact patient isolation and management measures, confirm Ebola through laboratory testing, and conduct contact tracing.

To support U.S. readiness for any possible Ebola cases, we are constantly working to review and, if needed, refine our public health guidance.

To provide just a couple of examples, we updated our guidance for public health assessment and management of travelers from countries affected by the ongoing outbreak. And we also released a checklist to help strengthen health department response planning for viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola.

We're coordinating with health departments nationally to follow established patient assessment protocols if Ebola is suspected in a patient with concerning clinical and epi history, coordinate patient management, specimen collection and Ebola testing with health departments and clinical teams, and support clinicians who suspect a patient may have Ebola through 24/7 clinical consultation.

CDC has extensive clinical guidance and training for U.S. settings including infection prevention and control recommendations for patients in U.S. hospitals who are suspected to have Ebola as well as long standing laboratory preparedness efforts for suspected viral hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola now allow for testing at CDC or through one of many laboratory response network public health labs.

We also work very closely with our U.S. government agency partners like ASPE on topics such as patient transport and treatment for viral hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola.

In short, since this outbreak was declared in mid-May, we've held hundreds of meetings, webinars, and one-on-one calls to ensure health departments, health systems laboratories, and our public health partners have what they need to prepare for any potential cases. For example, we held a COCA call discussing what U.S. clinicians should know about preparing for, diagnosing and managing patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola that was attended by more than 6000.

We've also responded to more than 100 technical assistance inquiries from health departments, and we provide Ebola updates and to help answer questions on a weekly call that typically has more than 2000 health department staff. So, to conclude, the U.S. has the resources to rapidly respond to any domestic Ebola cases.

Healthcare providers and health departments can visit cdc.gov/Ebola to connect to our guidance recommendations and resources and also learn how to connect with CDC for a clinical consultation. Thank you. Dr. Pillai, back to you.

00:30:17 Dr. Pillai

Thank you, Dr. Chatham-Stephens. I'll close by saying that, while this outbreak remains serious and requires an aggressive international response, the risk to the United States remains low.

CDC continues to support response activities in affected countries while also working closely with public health and healthcare partners domestically to ensure preparedness should a case be identified in the U.S. We remain committed to working with our partners to help contain this outbreak and prevent further spread.

The more quickly and effectively we can support containment of bundibugyo virus in the DRC, the more we can reduce the risk to other countries.

Thank you, and we look forward to your questions.

00:31:07 Mr. Haynes

Thank you gentlemen. Fran, we are ready to take questions.

00:31:10 Operator

Thank you very much. Now, if you are a credentialed member of the media and you would like to ask a question during the call, please press star one on your touch tone phone; press star 2 to withdraw your question. You may queue up at anytime; one moment please.

One moment please.

Our first question is from Carmen Paun with Politico, and your line is open.

00:31:54 Carmen Paun, Politico

Thank you so much for doing this and for your opportunity to ask a question. I wanted to ask what's the status of the facility in Kenya. We know that the court there had temporarily paused it and that the Kenyan health minister was held in contempt of court for not stopping the construction of the facility while the court proceedings were ongoing.

So, what is the latest that you know you have from the Kenyan authorities. Is it paused? What is the latest that you can you can give us about this? Thank you.

00:32:26 Dr. Pillai

Yeah, I would refer you to our Department of State colleagues who are the primary for issues pertaining to that. CDC continues to support our primary response actions to stopping the outbreak containing transmission in DRC and Uganda. Thank you.

00:32:46 Mr. Haynes

Next question, please.

00:32:49 Operator

Jessica Nix with Bloomberg News, your line is now open.

00:32:54 Jessica Nix, Bloomberg News

Hi thank you so much for doing this today and taking my question. Can you give us a bit more details on what this means to move to a Level One response; how many people from the CDC will be moved on to the response?

00:33:10 Dr. Pillai

The Level One response is an internal cue within the agency that this now reflects the highest level of, it's a top priority within the agency and internal signal to the entire CDC that we will mobilize staffing and additional resources as efficiently and rapidly as possible. The absolute numbers will vary based on where we are in the outbreak.

But we will have access to staff from throughout the agency, and again, the purpose of this is to signal internally how seriously our acting director and our agency leadership take this response. Over.

00:34:02 Mr. Haynes

Next question please.

00:34:07 Operator

Pien Huang with NPR, your line is now open.

Please check the mute button your line is open.

Oh, they're removed from queue; just one moment please.

We're going to move on; Youri Benadjaoud with ABC News, may ask your question.

00:34:37 Youri Benadjaoud, ABC News

Hey there thanks for taking this call. Could you please outline how many CDC officials are currently on the ground in Africa and if you plan to deploy anymore.

00:34:48 Dr. Pillai

We have approximately 100 staff that are deployed both domestically and internationally; the numbers, again, kind of flux based on the time of where we are in the response, but keep in mind that we already have a field presence in both countries, with 24 staff permanently in DRC and nearly 100 in Uganda. To that total, we've supplemented, yeah, over a dozen individuals, and we continue to roster individuals, but we can get you the exact numbers after the call, Youri.

00:35:32 Mr. Haynes

Next question, please.

00:35:34 Operator

That is from Jessica Karins with Inside Health Policy; your line is now open.

00:35:40 Jessica Karins, Inside Health Policy

Hi; thanks for taking my question. I was wondering if you could provide any more details on what the supplemental funding requested by the White House for the Ebola response would be used for.

00:35:55 Dr. Pillai

I would refer you to the Office of Management and Budget for the details of the supplemental that was announced. What I can speak to is CDC 's accessing of the $100,000,000+ from the infectious disease rapid response readiness fund, and that is dedicated to ensuring that all response pillars, from surveillance to laboratory testing to infection prevention and control, border health activities and operations, both domestically and internationally can continue apace.

00:36:40 Mr. Haynes

Next question please.

00:36:42 Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one. Our next now is from Ahmed Aboulenein with Reuters; your line is open.

00:36:54 Ahmed Aboulenein, Reuters

Hi yeah thanks for taking my question. You've described before, you know, the deployment you've had broadened, like that, you're the CDC is providing technical assistance; but can you walk us through like the detail of like what that means? Can you describe the work the CDC is doing on the ground?

00:37:16 Dr. Pillai

Thank you, and this is an important point, and I want to take a moment to just kind of walk through in detail that the....

It is critical to understand that the presence in both Uganda and DRC for over 20 years provides U.S. ongoing support to our ministry colleagues in both countries to support surveillance and contact tracing activities as well as laboratory support ensuring that training has occurred for both epidemiologic training laboratory training as well as infection prevention and border health work. To that end, deployers are going to these countries and to your earlier question, we have 19 individuals deployed overseas.

What they're doing is they're augmenting that capacity; they are additionally supporting data analysis activities for the ministries; they are supporting work in the airports to bolster activities that are already underway to enhance exit screening.

We have staff that will support in subsequent deployments, with activities ranging from infection prevention and control to laboratory support, but all of this is contingent on the immediate needs that are identified and where additional technical support from Atlanta can be of most use in addition to all of that CDC is providing financial resources to implementing partners.

So even when we talk about the ongoing presence of you know nearly 100 staff in both country offices and the nearly, you know, 20 individuals that are already deployed, not to mention the almost 400 total that are either in the EOC [Emergency Operations Center] or in domestically deployed we are supporting implementing partners, there are 25 field epidemiologists that CDC has trained and supported that are now doing the work in areas of DRC that United States government staff cannot deploy to. And in addition, as I mentioned, we have sustaining efforts in DRC over the past 20 years; we've trained nearly 1000 field epidemiologists in the country who represent the frontline so much of what CDC has is doing and have done. It's behind the scenes, but it is providing a significant backbone to the current operation. Thank you.

00:40:04 Mr. Haynes

Fran, if we have one more question, we'll go ahead and take it.

00:40:08 Operator

Thank you so our final question is from Pien Huang with NPR your line is open.

00:40:14 Pien Huang, NPR

Hi thank you for taking my question. I wanted to ask about therapeutics and diagnostic tests. So the U.S. said today that it's sending monoclonal antibodies and diagnostic tests for potential deployment and wondering like what we know about how well they work with states they're in and how the CDC is involved.

00:40:34 Dr. Pillai

Thank you. Medical countermeasures, whether they are the therapeutics that you alluded to the monoclonals or the diagnostics, are activities that CDC works across our federal family particularly with ASPR and BARDA to support the development, evaluation of and in the case of the monoclonals, I would definitely refer you to our colleagues at BARDA who serve as the point. W hat I can say is that the HHS and BARDA and CDC are working with the Ministry of Health colleagues to ensure that any therapeutic and other products that may be used as part of outbreak control are rigorously evaluated through trial designs that allow for the use of newer products that have promised to help reduce morbidity and mortality from Ebola, and in terms of the diagnostics, I can say that CDC helps assess the characteristics the sensitivity specificity to make sure that we can assist our colleagues in countries with the best tests to most rapidly and successfully identify cases and make the right decisions for treatment and monitoring; thank you.

00:42:03 Mr. Haynes

Once again thank you all for joining us today; there will be a transcript and audio of this briefing on the CDC media site today. Thanks again. Thank you all for joining us.

00:42:15 Operator

And we are now concluded. Again, thank you very much for your participation; you may please disconnect at this time.