repeated epidemics in Africa – La Libre Afrique

Recall of major Ebola outbreaks since the identification of the virus in 1976 in Central Africa:

– Spotted in Central Africa –

The disease takes its name from the Ebola River, located in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, at the Zaire era) where the virus was first spotted in 1976.

The epidemic in this isolated region of Central Africa makes 431 deaths: 280 in the DRC and 151 in Sudan, according to figures from the American CDC (Centers for Disease Control). Three years later, the virus reappears in the same region of southern Sudan, killing 22 people.

In addition to the Zaire strain, four other types of Ebola virus have subsequently been identified: Sudan, Bundibugyo, Reston, and Forêt de Taï.

– Kikwit in 1995 –

In May 1995, Ebola haemorrhagic fever resurfaced in the DRC, in the wooded region of Kikwit, in the south-west of the country. The epidemic is developing rapidly, killing 250 people out of the 315 cases reported, a death rate of 81%. This virus, which is spread by direct contact with the blood, body secretions, the careless handling of contaminated cadavers, does not spare the medical staff.

– Uganda in 2000-2001 –

In September 2000, an outbreak of Ebola fever affects Uganda (Sudan strain) for the first time, affecting the regions of Gulu (north), Masindi (north-west) and Mbarara (south-west). In five months, 425 people contract the virus which causes 224 deaths.

– Flambées in Gabon and Congo –

Already affected three times between 1994 and 1997, Gabon is again affected between October 2001 and May 2002 by an outbreak of Ebola type Zaire fever. The epidemic strikes the province of Ogooue-Ivindo (north-east), already affected, and makes 53 deaths out of a total of 65 cases.

The virus spreads to neighboring Congo, where it kills 44 people

At the beginning of 2003, the epidemic returned to the Congo, killing 128 of 143 people. The department of Cuvette-Ouest (north-west) is particularly affected, the populations would have manipulated carcasses of monkeys having succumbed to the virus.

A few months later, a third episode of fever makes about thirty victims in the region

– More than 11,000 deaths in West Africa –

The most deadly epidemic to date occurred in West Africa in December 2013 and lasted more than two years, killing more than 11,300 deaths out of 29,000 cases

Victims are 99% concentrated in three neighboring countries: Guinea, where the epidemic started (more than 2,500 deaths), Sierra Leone (more than 3,900 deaths) and Liberia, which has paid the highest price with the death of 4,800 people.

This record, undervalued by the WHO, is then seven times higher than the total number of Ebola deaths since 1976.

– 9th epidemic in the DRC –

The epidemic A total of 54 cases have been reported in the region, including 33 deaths.

This was the ninth on Congolese soil since the identification of the virus.

In 2007, the haemorrhagic fever that had particularly affected in Kasaï Occidental (center) between April and October, had 187 deaths out of 264 cases listed. Another outbreak left 43 dead in 2012.

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