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Today & # 39; hui The Lancet Infectious Diseases published two new studies that show how the response to the current Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been shaped by lessons learned from the epidemic of viral disease in Africa. West from 2013 to 2015.
In addition, the DRC Ministry of Health announced today nine new infections, part of an upsurge in cases.
A new strain has triggered an earlier epidemic
In particular, the DRC has used local genomics to provide real-time virus analysis. In 2018, the DRC hosted its 9th and 10th Ebola outbreaks, of a radically different size and magnitude.
Recently published studies prove that the strain of the virus responsible for the current epidemic, the second largest in the world, is genetically different from that of a smaller outbreak that ended in July 2018. in the west of the DRC.
Placid Mbala-Kingebeni, MD, and colleagues, sequenced 16 Ebola virus genomes (EBOV) to identify the new strain, called "Tumba." This epidemic had a case fatality rate of 60%, similar to that of West Africa. The Tumba strain of the virus was, however, not as sensitive to current treatments for the Ebola virus.
"We show that it is possible to use genomics to quickly characterize a new variant of the Ebola virus within the time frames of an epidemic," the study authors concluded.
A second study, also conducted by Mbala-Kingebeni and colleagues, focused on the coding of two Ebola virus genomes collected five days after the current outbreak in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces. DRC. The current outbreak has a case fatality rate of 62%, the highest of all documented Ebola outbreaks.
The authors determined that this outbreak was not caused by the Tumba strain of Ebola virus and was more susceptible to monoclonal antibody treatments (mAb114 and ZMapp), which are currently used as treatment options.
In a commentary on this study, a group led by Anise Happi, Ph.D., of the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, said the work supported the establishment of national and regional genomics hubs infectious diseases in areas at high risk of epidemics "where a non-targeted metagenomic sequencing analysis would be performed.Thus, a potential one-step solution for the detection of pathogens in case of epidemic outbreaks. known or new pathogens would replace the need for multiple dosages of individual pathogens. "
The epidemic reaches 1,273 cases
According to the daily update of the Ministry of Health, the DRC today confirmed 9 new cases, including 3 in the sensitive areas of Katwa and Butembo, and one in Masereka, Mandima and Kyondo, bringing the cumulative total of the epidemic to 1,273 cases, of which 821 deaths. Seven deaths of confirmed cases have been reported today, including four deaths in the community.
The DRC has also updated its epidemiological assessment of the epidemic, focusing on the week that began April 8th. Since then, 54.5% of the 110 new confirmed cases came from Katwa.
"The number of new confirmed cases notified each week has increased significantly over the past five weeks as a result of targeted attacks against Katwa and Butembo CTEs," the Ministry of Health said.
Of the 83 deaths recorded last week, 49 were deaths in the community, 59%, and 34 in a treatment center.
Vaccination efforts are continuing, with 101,249 persons vaccinated with the ZSB virus, including 26,316 in Katwa, 22,059 in Beni, 12,447 in Butembo and 6,556 in Mabalako.
Today, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi went to an Ebola treatment center in Beni and delivered a speech calling on the local community to work with counter-terrorism agents. epidemics.
See also:
April 16 Lancet Infect Dis study
April 16 Lancet Infect Dis Study of North Kivu
April 16 Lancet Infect Dis comment
April 16 update of the DRC
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