Race to contain Ebola in DRC – 3 dead, 29 infected

A RACE against the clock has begun to contain an outbreak of Ebola in a remote northern area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN’S World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

Twenty-nine cases have been reported in the Bas Uele province near the country’s border with the Central African Republic – two have been confirmed by laboratory tests and three people have died, the agency said on Thursday.

On May 9, WHO noticed a cluster of unexplained illnesses and death, all with bleeding symptoms in the area.

WHO, the DRC government and the medical aid organisation, Alima, deployed a team to the field and lab tests confirmed it was Ebola.

Two days later, the DRC Ministry of Health officially declared an outbreak.

“It’s important to note that Likati Health Zone is one of the most remote parts of the DRC, 350km from the nearest big town,” said Dr Peter Salama, the WHO executive director for health and emergency programmes.

The logistic and practical challenges associated with the response to the outbreak in a very remote and insecure part of the country should not be underestimated, said Salama.

He also said there were only 20km of paved roads in the area and virtually no functional telecommunications.the area has also been subject to insecurity and displacement.

“The Lord’s Resistance Army is believed to be active in the area and there are displaced populations from the ongoing conflict in the Central African Republic,” he said. With the help of the UN, the first search teams, led by the DRC’S Ministry of Health, flew into Likati on Wednesday. Their priority was to follow the 400 contacts of suspected cases.

The focus is on surveillance, getting the best information on the suspected cases, diagnosing people who have come in contact with an infected person, case management, isolating those who are infected to prevent its spread and engaging the community, said Salama.

An Ebola treatment centre has been established in the Likati General Hospital. Protective gear has been dispatched to workers and a mobile lab built.

Repairs to air strips and telecoms are being carried out.

The first six months of the operation are expected to cost $10 million. WHO has determined overall that the risk assessment for this event is “high” at the national level, medium at the regional level and low at the global level.

An experimental vaccine is being tested in Guinea, where the first outbreak of Ebola in west Africa was reported. Trials have been “promising” and the vaccines proven to be safe, said Salama.

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said she was encouraged by the response.

It’s the eighth outbreak in the DRC since 1976. The most recent in 2014, killed 11000 people with 28000 cases reported in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. – ANA

• Kruger National Park in Mpumalanga has urged visitors to take precautionary measures against Malaria, in the wake of an outbreak of the disease that killed more than 30 people in Limpopo.

Sanparks said the park was classified low-risk but was in a malaria area.