The Congo is already in a humanitarian crisis.. Ebola is now another layer to it Aid workers fear deadly disease could spread in war-torn region
IRISH aid workers are bracing themselves for a potential Ebola disaster in war-torn Congo.
Mark Johnson, 33, is on the ground with charity Concern as they fight to contain the fatal virus.
The lawyer from Goatstown, Dublin, told the Irish Mirror last night that tackling the health crisis is hampered by the armed conflict.
Irish Aid has stumped up €100,000 in emergency funding to back Concern’s life-saving work.
Mark said: “At the moment it is confined to North Kivu, we are working in the more southern parts to prevent it spreading.
“We are doing this by distributing masks, gloves, chemicals to clean healthcare centres and also train healthcare workers on what to do in the situation. The DRC is already a humanitarian crisis, Ebola is now another layer to it. Beni in North Kivu is the epicentre of the breakout, but it is also gripped by a violent conflict.
“Armed groups are conducting massacres regularly. There is also a severe shortage of food. We are working with communities to repair the water system.”
During the Ebola crisis in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, the World Health Organisation was slow to react but Mark insists lessons have been learned.
He added: “The most updated figures we have today are that 838 people have been infected and 537 have been killed. The rate that we are getting there is quicker and faster than the last time.”
The number of recorded deaths was 370 at the beginning of this year, the death toll had reached 537 by the end of last week. This is an increase of 45%. At least 22 of the dead are health workers.
Concern are using the new funding to train more than 350 health workers in how to control the outbreak as it nears Goma, the capital city of North Kivu with a population of over one million. Mark said: “It is vital that we do all that we can to contain the spread. There are a few theories about how it is transmitted.
“It’s believed to be carried by bats and ends up transmitted to other animals. In this territory they eat a lot of bush meat. Hunting and killing an animal like that, the blood is transmitted from animals to humans. The symptoms – there is nothing very distinctive about it.
“A very high fever, nausea, headaches and when it gets serious they start bleeding from the nose and mouth and also vomiting.”
“[It is] very difficult for healthcare workers to identify Ebola as a lot of cholera is also in the region.
“When the patient is extremely sick, they are also extremely contagious. When the person dies, the corpse is very contagious.
“Burial practice would generally involve the family cleaning the body and touching the body.”
Ebola is difficult to identify as a lot of cholera is in the region MARK JOHNSON CONGO YESTERDAY