Congo health officials confirmed another outbreak of Ebola in the east of the country on Sunday, the fourth in less than three years
BENI, Congo – Health officials in Congo confirmed another outbreak of Ebola in the east of the country on Sunday, the fourth in less than three years. On February 3, a woman died in the city of Butembo, in the province of North Kivu, announced Health Minister Eteni Longondo.
The woman from the neighboring village of Biena was ill for a few days before being tested at a clinic there. She then went to a hospital in Butembo, but died before receiving the results. The government started to track down all the people who came in contact with it to try to “eradicate the epidemic as soon as possible,” said Longondo.
This is the 12th outbreak in Congo, plagued by conflict, since the virus was first discovered in the country in 1976, and occurs less than three months after an outbreak in western Equateur province, officially ended in November. The 2018 outbreak in eastern Congo was the second most lethal in the world, killing 2,299 people before ending in June. This outbreak lasted nearly two years and was tackled amid unprecedented challenges, including entrenched conflict between armed groups, the world’s largest measles epidemic and the spread of COVID-19.
Health officials fear that a new Ebola outbreak could seriously affect the country’s fragile health system, especially when facing the resurgence of COVID-19.
“While there is hope that this early identification of an infection can help to contain this outbreak quickly, consecutive outbreaks of Ebola and COVID-19 have pushed Congo’s health systems to the limit and this could put much greater pressure on an already exasperated system ”Said Jason Kindrachuk, an assistant professor in the department of medical microbiology and infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba, Canada, who is conducting research on survivors of the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the deadliest of all.
The Ebola virus is highly contagious and can be contracted through body fluids, such as vomiting, blood or semen. Although the source of the contamination is still unknown, the woman who died was the wife of an Ebola survivor, according to the government. The virus can live in the semen of male survivors for more than three years, according to a study by the New England Journal of Medicine, and health experts say that as outbreaks become more frequent, it is important to understand more about how it is contracted.
In a statement on Sunday, the World Health Organization said it was not uncommon for sporadic cases to occur after a major outbreak and that previous responses to Ebola were already making it easier to deal with.
“The experience and capacity of the local health teams were instrumental in detecting this new case of Ebola and paving the way for a timely response,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa. The WHO is investigating the case and trying to identify the strain of the virus to determine its link to the previous outbreak.
Congo has suffered more than a quarter of a century of conflict and distrust of government health workers and other foreigners is high in eastern Congo. Butembo residents are already asking why it took four days since the woman took the test to announce the results.
“It is frustrating because the contacts will have moved and it will be difficult to find them,” Vianey Kasondoli, a resident of Butembo, told the Associated Press by telephone. “The government and the health ministry have to contain the disease as quickly as possible.”