Fresh Ebola outbreak is declared in crisis-hit Congo by World Health Organisation
A SECOND ebola outbreak has been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, health officials said today. Six cases of the disease have been identified and four people have so far died in the north near Mbandaka in Equateur province. Congo’s Health Minister Eteni Longondo told a news conference: “The National Institute of Biomedical Research […]
A SECOND ebola outbreak has been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, health officials said today.
Six cases of the disease have been identified and four people have so far died in the north near Mbandaka in Equateur province.
Congo’s Health Minister Eteni Longondo told a news conference: “The National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) has confirmed to me that samples from Mbandaka tested positive for Ebola.
“We will send them the vaccine and medicine very quickly.”
Mr Longondo added: “This is a province that has already experienced the disease. They know how to respond.
“They started the response at the local level yesterday.”
The Equateur Province was previously hit by an Ebola outbreak between May and July 2018, in which 33 people died and 21 recovered from the disease, Al Jazeera reports.
HEALTH EMERGENCY
Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said the new Ebola outbreak “represents a challenge, but it’s one we are ready to tackle”.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said staff is already in Mbandaka to support the new Ebola outbreak.
He tweeted: “The country is also in final phase of battling Ebola in eastern DRC, Covid-19 & the world’s largest measles outbreak.
“This outbreak is a reminder that Covid-19 is not the only health threat people face.
“WHO is continuing to monitor & respond to many health emergencies.”
Since the Ebola outbreak in Congo was declared in August 2018, 3,406 cases have been reported, including 2,243 deaths.
The WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern in July 2019, after the highly contagious disease threatened to spread to the large city of Goma and neighbouring countries.
This is Congo’s 11th outbreak of Ebola since the virus was first discovered in the country in 1976.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said: “It’s happening at a challenging time, but WHO has worked over the last two years with health authorities, Africa CDC and other partners to strengthen national capacity to respond to outbreaks.
‘WE MUST ACT QUICKLY’
“To reinforce local leadership, WHO plans to send a team to support scaling up the response.
“Given the proximity of this new outbreak to busy transport routes and vulnerable neighbouring countries we must act quickly.”
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s 10th outbreak of Ebola, in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces, is in its final stages.
On May 14, the Ministry of Health began the 42-day countdown to the declaration of the end of that outbreak.
Ebola – previously called Ebola haemorrhagic fever – is a virus is transmitted to people from wild animals.
It spreads in the human population through direct contact with blood, body fluids or objects that have been contaminated with body fluids (like blood, feces, vomit) of a person who is sick with or has died from Ebola.
The disease was first detected in regions close to the River Ebola – which gave the virus its name.
Ebola has an incubation period of two to 21 days, meaning symptoms can take up to three weeks to appear from the time of infection.
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Early symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain, sore throat and general weakness.
As the disease progresses, Ebola can cause diarrhoea, vomiting, rash, impaired kidney and live, stomach pain as well as internal and external bleeding.
The DRC is also fighting an outbreak of the new coronavirus, recording so far 3,195 infections and 72 deaths, according to the latest official figures.
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