DRC begins countdown to end Ebola outbreak in east

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the deadly Ebola virus first appeared in 1976, has started a countdown to the official end of its latest outbreak, this time in the east of the country, officials said on Tuesday. health authorities.

The last patient to be treated for Ebola tested negative for the second time on Sunday, triggering the 42-day countdown from Monday, the World Health Organization’s office in DR Congo said.

The period is twice the average maximum incubation time for Ebola.

Since the reappearance of the virus on February 7 in the province of North Kivu in the DRC, 12 cases have been recorded, half of them fatal.

The virus, which jumps to humans from infected animals, is transmitted between people through bodily fluids. The main symptoms are fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhea.

According to the latest WHO situation report last Thursday, 1,606 people had been vaccinated against Ebola in the DRC, a vast former Belgian colony in central Africa, today one of the poorest countries in the world.

The vaccine, developed by the American laboratory Merck Sharpe and Dohme, was used for the first time during the 10th Ebola epidemic, which lasted from August 2018 to June 2020 in North and South Kivu and in the neighboring province of Ituri, as well as during the 11th epidemic, in the western province of Equateur between July and November 2020.

With more than 2,200 deaths recorded, the 10th epidemic is considered the worst to strike DR Congo since 1976, ranging from August 2018 to June 2020.

The virus also struck Guinea, in West Africa, in mid-February, with 18 cases and nine deaths, according to the WHO.

Almost 4,000 people have been vaccinated there.

The worst Ebola outbreak in history began in December 2013 in southern Guinea before spreading to two neighboring countries in West Africa, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The epidemic has killed more than 11,300 people out of nearly 29,000 recorded cases, according to WHO estimates.