CONAKRY (Reuters) – Guinea declared a new Ebola outbreak on Sunday, when tests were positive for the virus after three people died and four fell ill in the southeast – the first resurgence of the disease there since the world’s worst outbreak in 2013- 2016.
The patients fell ill with diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding after attending a funeral at Goueke’s subprefecture. Those still alive have been isolated in treatment centers, the health ministry said.
“In view of this situation and in accordance with international health regulations, the Guinean government declares an Ebola epidemic,” the ministry said in a statement.
The person buried on February 1 was a nurse at a local health center and died after being transferred for treatment to Nzerekore, a city near the border with Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.
The 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa began in Nzerekore, and the proximity of busy borders has hampered efforts to contain the virus. It killed at least 11,300 people, with the vast majority of cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The fight against Ebola will again put additional pressure on health services in Guinea as they are also fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Guinea, a country with about 12 million inhabitants, has so far registered 14,895 coronavirus infections and 84 deaths.
The Ebola virus causes severe vomiting and diarrhea and is transmitted by contact with body fluids. It has a much higher mortality rate than COVID-19, but, unlike the coronavirus, it is not transmitted by asymptomatic carriers.
The ministry said health professionals are trying to trace and isolate contacts from Ebola cases and will open a treatment center in Goueke, which is less than an hour’s drive from Nzerekore.
Authorities also requested Ebola vaccines from the World Health Organization (WHO), the document said. The new vaccines have greatly improved survival rates in recent years.
“It is a great concern to see the resurgence of Ebola in Guinea, a country that has already suffered a lot from the disease,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, in a statement.
Given the proximity of the new border outbreak, WHO is working with health officials in Liberia and Sierra Leone to increase surveillance and testing capabilities, the statement said.
Enhanced vaccines and treatments helped efforts to end the second largest Ebola outbreak on record, which was declared closed in the Democratic Republic of Congo last June, after nearly two years and more than 2,200 deaths.
But on Sunday, the DRC reported a fourth new case of Ebola in North Kivu province, where the resurgence of the virus was announced on February 7.
Written by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Frances Kerry and David Goodman