The death and unsafe burial of a 65-year-old woman in Mangina in the Democratic Republic of Congo was the critical event that set alarm bells ringing in the latest Ebola outbreak in late July, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.
WHO’s emergency response chief Peter Salama said seven of the woman’s immediate family later died from Ebola-like symptoms, and potential cases were now being traced in 10 localities in DR Congo. Apart from Mangina in North Kivu province, there were new suspected cases in the local town of Beni and neighbouring Ituri province, Salama told a regular UN briefing in Geneva.
The WHO also warned that the Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC is likely to spread over tens of kilometre and poses a high regional risk given its proximity to the border. The health ministry said four people have tested positive for Ebola in and around Mangina, a town of about 60,000 people in North Kivu province, 100 km from the Ugandan border. Another 20 people died from unidentified haemorrhagic fevers in the area, mostly in the second half of July.
On July 29, a previous outbreak on the other side of the Central African country was declared over after killing 33 people.“It would appear that the risk, as we can surmise for DRC, is high. For the region it’s high given the proximity to borders, particularly Uganda,” said WHO’s emergency response chief Peter Salama.“We are talking about tens of kilometres but I stress that this is very preliminary information at this stage.”
On Thursday, officials in Mangina to educate people about the risks of spreading the virus in a town that one local nurse told Reuters had no ambulance service. Agents were deployed to warn people about the need for strict hygiene and the local radio station passed on messages about how to act, a local journalist said by phone.“There is a great panic among the local population following the appearance of the Ebola epidemic,” said a nurse by phone, who asked not to be named. The hospital where she works has already seen three people die recently of haemorrhagic fever. The hospital was awaiting help from the Red Cross to bury the bodies properly, she said. Meanwhile, Uganda has set up screening at the land border it shares with Congo and at its Entebbe international airport.“Ebola is highly infectious so we have put in place measures,” Uganda’s Junior Health Minister Sarah Opendi told Reuters. An international delegation including officials from the UN, the World Bank and the WHO is in Beni, 30 km from Mangina.
Culled from Reuters
"It seems the storm is not over in DR Congo"
WHO’s emergency response chief Peter Salama said seven of the woman’s immediate family later died from Ebola-like symptoms, and potential cases were now being traced in 10 localities in DR Congo. Apart from Mangina in North Kivu province, there were new suspected cases in the local town of Beni and neighbouring Ituri province, Salama told a regular UN briefing in Geneva.
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The WHO also warned that the Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC is likely to spread over tens of kilometre and poses a high regional risk given its proximity to the border. The health ministry said four people have tested positive for Ebola in and around Mangina, a town of about 60,000 people in North Kivu province, 100 km from the Ugandan border. Another 20 people died from unidentified haemorrhagic fevers in the area, mostly in the second half of July.
On July 29, a previous outbreak on the other side of the Central African country was declared over after killing 33 people.“It would appear that the risk, as we can surmise for DRC, is high. For the region it’s high given the proximity to borders, particularly Uganda,” said WHO’s emergency response chief Peter Salama.“We are talking about tens of kilometres but I stress that this is very preliminary information at this stage.”
On Thursday, officials in Mangina to educate people about the risks of spreading the virus in a town that one local nurse told Reuters had no ambulance service. Agents were deployed to warn people about the need for strict hygiene and the local radio station passed on messages about how to act, a local journalist said by phone.“There is a great panic among the local population following the appearance of the Ebola epidemic,” said a nurse by phone, who asked not to be named. The hospital where she works has already seen three people die recently of haemorrhagic fever. The hospital was awaiting help from the Red Cross to bury the bodies properly, she said. Meanwhile, Uganda has set up screening at the land border it shares with Congo and at its Entebbe international airport.“Ebola is highly infectious so we have put in place measures,” Uganda’s Junior Health Minister Sarah Opendi told Reuters. An international delegation including officials from the UN, the World Bank and the WHO is in Beni, 30 km from Mangina.
Culled from Reuters
"It seems the storm is not over in DR Congo"
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Reviewed by Ridwan
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August 03, 2018
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Reviewed by Ridwan
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August 03, 2018
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