Ebola outbreak breaks out in Guinea as cases multiply in DRC

Two unrelated Ebola outbreaks have broken out in two countries that have already faced one of the world’s worst deadly viral diseases.

Health officials in Guinea on Sunday declared an Ebola epidemic in Gouéké in N’Zérékore prefecture, located in the south-eastern region of the country. Authorities have so far linked seven people to the outbreak, including three deaths. Six people fell ill with Ebola-like disease after attending a funeral. Three of those cases have been confirmed and two of the six have died.

The outbreak marks the first Ebola detection in Guinea since 2016, when the largest Ebola outbreak on record ended. The epidemic, which lasted from 2014 to 2016, recorded more than 28,600 cases and more than 11,000 deaths. Guinea was one of the three countries hardest hit by the epidemic.

“It is a huge concern to see the resurgence of Ebola in Guinea, a country which has already suffered so much from the disease,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization regional director for Africa . “However, building on the expertise and experience gained from the previous epidemic, health teams in Guinea are on the move to quickly trace the path of the virus and stem new infections.”

Meanwhile, officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have confirmed four cases in North Kivu province, where the second largest Ebola outbreak ended in June 2020. This outbreak has recorded a total of nearly 3 500 cases and nearly 2,300 deaths. It is not known whether the new cases are linked to this outbreak via a latent and persistent infection or whether this represents a new virus “spillover” event spreading to humans from an unidentified animal host.

In both current situations, health officials are mobilizing, trying to trace contacts, mobilize health resources and vaccinate suspicious contacts.

“The outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are completely independent, but we face similar challenges in both cases,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference February 15. experience and benefit from this experience … But the two epidemics are also located in areas that are difficult to access and insecure, with a certain mistrust of foreigners.

Tedros noted that in the DRC, out of 149 contact cases, 43 people were vaccinated, including 20 people vaccinated during the previous epidemic.