Breaking: Ebola Outbreak Kills 17 People
Offical reports emanating from the northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo have it that 17 people have been confirmed dead as a result of an Ebola outbreak.
This will be the ninth time Ebola has been recorded in the central African nation, whose eastern Ebola river gave the deadly virus its name when it was discovered there in the 1970s, and comes less than a year after its last outbreak which killed eight people.
“Our country is facing another epidemic of the Ebola virus, which constitutes an international public health emergency,” the Health Ministry said in a statement
“We still dispose of the well trained human resources that were able to rapidly control previous epidemics,” the ministry said.
Ebola is believed to be spread over long distances by bats, which can host the virus without dying, as it infects other animals it shares trees with such as monkeys.
This obnoxious disease is often spread to humans via infected bushmeat.
Before the outbreak was confirmed, local health officials reported 21 patients showing signs of hemorrhagic fever around the village of Ikoko Impenge, near the town of Bikoro, 17 out of these 21 later died.
Medical teams from the World Health Organization and other medical charity like Medecins Sans Frontieres were dispatched to the zone on Saturday and took five samples from suspected active cases.
Two of those samples tested positive for the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus, the ministry said.
“Since notification of the cases on May 3, no deaths have been reported either among the hospitalised cases or the healthcare personnel,” the statement said.
After Congo’s last Ebola flare-up, authorities there approved the use of a new experimental vaccine but in the end, did not deploy it owing to logistical challenges and the relatively minor nature of the outbreak.
The worst Ebola epidemic ever recorded in history ended two years ago, here in West Africa after killing more than 11,300 people and infected some 28,600 as it rolled through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. In spite of regular outbreaks every few years, death tolls in Congo have been significantly lower.
“Our top priority is to get to Bikoro to work alongside the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and partners to reduce the loss of life and suffering related to this new Ebola virus disease outbreak,” said Dr Peter Salama, WHO Deputy Director-General, Emergency Preparedness and Response. He concluded.
Read Also:
Follow us on Facebook – Dailyfamily.ng, Twitter – @DailyfamilyNG, Whatsapp +2348188889427, BBM PIN D86722A7 and Instagram @dailyfamilyng for more updates.
