Ebola vaccines to be shipped to Congo, says WHO chief

Agency prepares for ‘worst-case scenario’

KINSHASA, May 12, (Agencies): Ebola vaccines will be shipped as quickly as possible to Congo as the number of suspected cases in the latest outbreak grows, the head of the World Health Organization said Friday as the agency prepared for a “worst-case scenario.”

WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus in a Twitter post said the agreement was made in a phone call with Congo’s health minister on Thursday. WHO still needs Congo’s final authorization, which is expected in the coming days, Dr. Peter Salama, the agency’s emergencies chief, told reporters in Geneva.

Two cases of Ebola have been confirmed in the latest outbreak in a remote northwestern part of Congo. There is no specific treatment for Ebola. A new experimental vaccine has been shown to be highly effective, though quantities are limited.

Congo’s health minister on Thursday announced the first death since the outbreak was declared early this week, though the hemorrhagic fever blamed for the death has not been confirmed as Ebola.

On Friday, the health ministry announced one new suspected case in Bikoro and a second in the Iboko health zone. It also said it knew of three sick people in Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur province, where it is sending experts to investigate.

Mobile laboratories were being deployed to Mbandaka and Bikoro on Saturday, the ministry said.

“The problem here is that we already have three separate locations that are reporting cases that cover as much as 60 kilometers and maybe more,” Salama with WHO said. “We have three health care workers infected and one who has been reported as of yesterday as having died.”

While the risk of the latest outbreak spreading into other countries is low, nine nearby countries have been put on high alert, Salama said.

It is “absolutely a dire scene in terms of infrastructure” as medical teams try to contain the outbreak in a region with poor water and sanitation, few paved roads and little electricity, he said.

A new outbreak of Ebola that has killed 17 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo is thousands of miles (kilometres) from Nigeria.

But health officials in Abuja this week moved quickly to introduce emergency measures, including screening visitors from the DRC and neighbouring countries — and for good reason.

Not only was Nigeria one of the countries affected by the last outbreak that killed over 11,000 across West Africa, it also regularly faces sudden, deadly and often unknown epidemics.

Last year, some 1,100 people died and nearly 15,000 were infected in a meningitis C outbreak, while there were also cases of monkey pox.

This year, there have been record numbers of Lassa Fever cases. In the past, health workers have scrambled to contain the spread of polio.

With a hot and humid climate near the Equator, Nigeria — Africa’s most populous nation with more than 180 million people — is a fertile breeding ground for viruses.

That, a crumbling healthcare system and transport links to the rest of the continent and wider world means health experts pay Nigeria extra special attention.

“Climate change, demographic growth, rapid urbanisation and promiscuity are aggravating factors, so outbreaks are something we have to be more careful about,” said Nkamgang Bemo, emergency response deputy director for the Gates Foundation.

In a country where an “average” town has about one million inhabitants, and where there are two cities with more than 10 million people, preparation is key.

Medical teams need to be trained, data from previous epidemics analysed and the transportation of samples organised in advance.

“Each state must have an emergency response to epidemics, depending on the specific risks they face,” said Bemo.

Valerie