[ad_1]
The Ebola outbreak in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo officially began on 1 August when authorities confirmed that four people had been tested positive for the virus. The news was bad, but not necessarily catastrophic: epidemiologists were generally convinced that the epidemic could be quickly brought under control.
They were wrong.
Nearly eight months later, the epidemic is currently spreading at its fastest pace, said the World Health Organization (WHO), with a record number of new infections recorded in each of the last two weeks. In total, the outbreak killed 676 people and infected another 406, according to Reuters.
This initial optimism, however, was motivated by good reasons.
Clearly, the DRC has more experience than any other country in the world in the fight against the Ebola virus.
This last epidemic has been the ninth in the country since the first in 1976. This means that local authorities are familiar with the containment and contact tracing protocols and are receptive to the support of external organizations.
The Congo's vast geographical extent and its notoriously difficult transport links make it difficult to spread the disease, unlike the dense urban areas of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where it flourished from 2013 to 2016.
What is even more significant is that the humanitarian community finally has a weapon that it can deploy against the disease itself. Following the epidemic in West Africa, which killed 11,325 people, scientists and pharmaceutical companies rushed to offer a vaccine. They succeeded; In 2017, the WHO approved the use of the avian influenza virus-viral (ZVBV) virus for limited use in Ebola outbreaks caused by the strain of Zaire virus.
At a ceremony in Freetown, Margaret Chan, then director of the WHO, said: "Scientists still do not know exactly where the Ebola virus is hiding between outbreaks, but almost all the experts know it. 39, agree that another outbreak is inevitable. When that happens, the world will be much better prepared. "
Unfortunately, this was not so simple, as evidenced by the continuing epidemic in north-eastern DRC.
As the vaccine has not yet completed all the necessary clinical trials, it is selectively and voluntarily deployed only to those most likely to be infected, that is, friends. and the wider social circle and family of Ebola patients. But convincing rural communities to allow themselves to be injected with a mysterious substance by people they do not know is a difficult sell.
"We have a striking contradiction: on the one hand, a quick and widespread response to an epidemic with new medical tools such as vaccines and treatments that give promising results when people arrive early – and d." On the other hand, people with Ebola die in their communities and do not trust the Ebola response enough to come forward, "said Joanne Liu, Global Director of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
This mistrust is increasingly manifested in violence: Attacks on the Katwa and Butembo treatment centers forced MSF to close them permanently.
"Various problems have led to these tensions: from the mbadive deployment of financial resources devoted solely to Ebola, in a neglected region suffering from conflict, violence and persistent health problems, to officially postponed elections due to the epidemic. Ebola, exacerbating the suspicions that "Ebola is a political ploy," said MSF.
According to a new study published in the medical journal The Lancet, a quarter of the population at risk does not believe that Ebola is real. People who do not believe the Ebola virus is real are much less likely to take action to protect themselves. The study, led by Patrick Vinck of Harvard University, concluded: "Trust and the flow of accurate information from trusted sources are essential to control Ebola outbreaks and represent a major challenge in conflict environments. . "
Until now, scientific evidence suggests that the Ebola vaccine is effective. But he can not beat Ebola alone. Until the affected communities – who have many reasons to be suspicious of authority – can be convinced to trust the people who administer the injections, it is unlikely that this outbreak will be under control.
Source link
