[ad_1]
GENEVA (Reuters) – The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to the south in an area at high risk for safety, said the World Health Organization.
A mother of a child, suspected of dying of Ebola, cries near the coffin of her child in Beni, North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, December 17, 2018. REUTERS / Goran Tomasevic / File Photo
The epidemic, the worst in the country, killed 439 of the 713 people who reportedly caught the disease. The fight against the Ebola virus depends on finding people who may have been in contact with the disease, getting sick and spreading them further.
But the outbreak in a region of Congo where fighting is frequent makes it difficult for health workers to move around, monitor potential patients and broadcast messages on how to avoid getting sick.
Since the beginning of the year, most cases have occurred in the health zone of Katwa, where the WHO said that workers affected by the Ebola virus had been confronted with "pockets of mistrust" to the community "and that most of the sick people did not appear on lists of people suspected of being affected by the virus.
"The epidemic has also spread southward to the Kayina Health Zone, an area at high risk for safety," said the WHO in a statement released on Thursday. . There were five cases in Kayina, located between the main area of infection and the main town of Goma, close to the Rwandan border.
WHO announced that after organizing an Ebola simulation exercise in Rwanda, it had sent a team to strengthen the country's preparedness and vaccinate health workers who would be the first to come into contact with the Ebola virus. it was spreading at the border.
However, WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib said there had also been a decrease in the number of cases around the previous Beni hotspot.
"It is very premature to claim victory, it is true that we have had success in Beni because all the measures we have taken have had an impact, but unfortunately, cases arise in other areas", has she said.
"The country is not only confronted with the Ebola virus but with other health threats, to name only malaria, cholera, polio from vaccine origin, but also a very long humanitarian crisis and a lot of violence. in several regions.
More than 60,000 people have been vaccinated in the Congo and 2,500 in Uganda, one of the countries at "very high risk" of contracting the disease.
Chaib said that there were 4,000 people likely to be in contact with the Ebola virus under surveillance and 156 patients in the hospital.
Reportage of Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay; Edited by Janet Lawrence
Source link
