CONAKRY, Guinea – Health officials in Guinea confirmed on Sunday that at least three people died of Ebola there, the first reported cases since it was one of three West African nations to fight the world’s deadliest Ebola epidemic, which ended five years ago.
Another four people were confirmed with Ebola, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health. All seven positive cases attended a nurse’s funeral in Goueke on February 1 and subsequently showed symptoms of Ebola, including fever, diarrhea and vomiting. said the ministry.
The government declared an Ebola epidemic and began tracking and isolating suspected cases. It also sent an emergency team to support local teams in Goueke and accelerated the procurement of Ebola vaccines from the World Health Organization.
“I confirm that it is Ebola. The results prove it, ”Health Minister Remy Lamah told the Associated Press by phone.
The patients were tested for ebola after experiencing symptoms of hemorrhagic fever and those who came into contact with the patients are already isolated, the authorities said.
Guinea’s announcement came a week after eastern Congo confirmed that there were also cases. The cases are not linked.
Health experts in Guinea say these latest cases could be a major setback for the impoverished nation, which is already fighting COVID-19 and is still recovering from the previous Ebola outbreak that killed 2,500 people in Guinea, where it started . More than 11,300 people died in the outbreak that also hit neighboring countries in Liberia and Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2016.
“Ebola’s resurgence is very worrying because of what it can do for people, for the economy, for health infrastructure,” said Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, assistant professor of infectious disease medicine at South Carolina Medical University, which was the medical director of an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone during the previous outbreak.
“We are still understanding the repercussions of the (last) outbreak on the population,” she said.
To contain the spread, the government and international health organizations must respond quickly and educate communities about what is happening, said Kuppalli.
One of the reasons the previous outbreak was so deadly was because the virus was not detected quickly and local authorities and the international community were slow to act when the cases first emerged in a rural part of Guinea.
The initial outbreak patient, an 18-month-old boy from a small village, was found to be infected by bats, but after the case was reported in December 2013, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it took a while weeks before a medical alert was issued and then the virus had spread and it took years to get rid of it.
The new cases announced on Sunday are in the Nzerekore region, where the previous one began.
After hearing the news, residents of the capital said they fear the country will not be able to deal with another outbreak.
“The news about the Ebola outbreak in Guinea is worrying. We already have difficulties in dealing with the coronavirus, now the health system will be dominated by two pandemics, ”said Mamadou Kone, a resident of Conakry.
“I don’t know what this curse is hitting Guineans for, all pandemics are falling on us,” said Mariam Konate, a nurse. “It’s as if the country has been hit by a curse,” she said.
The source of the infections is still unknown.
Health experts hope that the availability of an Ebola vaccine will help to control this outbreak quickly. Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with body fluids from someone with symptoms of Ebola or positive corpses.
Last month, the World Health Organization said it was creating a global emergency stockpile of about 500,000 doses of Ebola vaccine to help prevent future outbreaks, but only 7,000 were available at the time of the declaration. The Ebola vaccine being stored is manufactured by Merck.
“There are tools and systems that can be mobilized quickly to address these cases. The key will be speed, ensuring that the right people and materials are where they need to be, ”said Donald Brooks, executive director of the Initiative: Eau, a US aid group focused on water and sanitation, who worked on establishing a response to public health emergencies systems in West Africa.
“Otherwise and spread to urban centers, it can result in disastrous loss of life,” he warned.