Top doctor warns mystery disease that kills in hours could be headed for the US because of recent Trump change

An ex-White House official has warned the Trump administration is leaving the US vulnerable to a mystery disease outbreak in the Congo.

Dr Stephanie Psaki, former coordinator for global health security, told DailyMail.com that deep cuts to USAID were leaving the US without the vital information needed to respond to the disease. 

She also said the cuts had likely undermined efforts to contain the disease locally, raising the risk it could spread and enter the United States.

Dr Psaki said: ‘One of the strengths that the US Government had before was that it had partners all around the world, and USAID in particular, that it had contracts… that could easily be repurposed in order to respond to an emergency, whether it is an outbreak or something else.

‘Those contracts are possibly completely frozen or have been terminated, which means we don’t have the access to those areas we once did.’

‘Similarly, through our relationship with the World Health Organization and ministries of health in most countries around the world, we often were able to get information before it was made public. So, like, what tests have been administered and what results have come back, what’s the timeline for diagnosing this. 

‘I would assume that the US Government does not have that information right now, and has a lack of clear information on what’s happening.’

Without this information or international cooperation America is at risk of falling victim to diseases, including the one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has left officials stunned. 

More than 50 people have died and at least 413 have been sickened in the outbreak in the western area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Patients have suffered from a headache and fever, before suffering from major internal bleeding. Among fatalities, patients died within 48 hours of symptoms appearing.

Physicians are scrambling to work out what is causing the hemorrhagic-like viral outbreak, with testing having ruled out Ebola and Marburg viruses. 

Officials have raised concerns over reports that the outbreak began on January 21 after three children ate a dead bat, suggesting this may be a case of a disease spilling over from animals to humans.

Dr Psaki, who previously worked on outbreaks in the DRC for the White House, said if she was still in post right now she would be calling experts in the DRC and at home to assess the situation and whether an advisory needed to be issued. 

She told DailyMail.com: ‘Part of the reason why we take extra precautions when we don’t know what it is, is when we’re thinking about the worst case scenario, which is Ebola or Marburg or a novel pathogen that we haven’t seen before. 

‘It might be that they’re just delaying sharing routine guidance that they would normally be sharing… but then you lose precious time [to stop a disease entering the US].’

She warned: ‘The more time we waste trying to understand what it is, and the longer the delay to getting people and resources there, the higher the risk that it poses to Americans.’

Other actions she said would be taken under normal circumstances include screening travelers arriving in the US from the DRC. Any delay to this could raise the risk of the mystery disease entering the US.

Despite its novelty, Dr Psaki still believes the threat of the outbreak to the US, is likely ‘low’ — adding the measles outbreak in Texas likely poses a higher risk for Americans.

Dr Psaki, who is the sister of former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki, has also previously warned cuts from the Trump administration are raising the risk of the world’s deadliest diseases entering America.

An ex-WHO doctor also warned today that Trump’s cuts to health agencies have left the US exposed to the mystery outbreak.

Dr Krutika Kuppalli, who is also an ID expert with expertise in global health, blasted slashes to programs for pandemic preparedness, saying these had ‘strained’ efforts to tackle them on the ground.

‘Cuts to US funding for global health security and pandemic preparedness — particularly to agencies like USAID and CDC programs — have certainly strained efforts to prevent and control outbreaks,’ she said.

‘Local officials have already voiced concerns about struggling to contain diseases like mpox… A similar lack of resources may be contributing to the worsening situation with this outbreak.’

She added: ‘The US public health system has historically been well-equipped to detect and respond to such cases.

‘But recent policy changes and funding cuts to federal health agencies like the CDC, FDA, and NIH have weakened our ability to prepare for and respond to emerging threats.’

A report from the DRC’s own department of health, translated from French, warned there are now 722 cases in the country — while local media reports say the tally is now nearly 1,000.

Patients have reported symptoms including fever, pain, tremors, headaches, and — among those under 60 years old — incessant thirst and persistent crying.

The outbreak began on January 21 in Boloko town, before later spreading to the nearby town of Bomate — both in the north-west of the country. 

The WHO is understood to have a team on the ground to investigate the situation.

USAID’s efforts to counter the outbreak are reported to have been hampered by President Donald Trump’s executive order for a 90-day pause on all foreign aid issued during his first day in office.

In the DRC, USAID officials — who spoke to The Guardian on the condition of anonymity — said this suspended efforts to control monkeypox, or mpox, in several provinces experiencing an outbreak. It has likely also impacted efforts to tackle the mystery disease.

The CDC had put aside $55million to spend on disease prevention in the country in August last year, with some of this money still yet to be spent when the freeze went into effect last month. 

US officials have also now been evacuated from the country’s capital Kinshasa, following violent protests amid conflict in the nation’s east near Rwanda.

The outbreak comes just months after a mystery ‘Disease X’ ravaged the DRC and killed 143 people at the end of last year. Officials later found that it was likely caused by a severe respiratory form of malaria.