Ebola has killed 35 in the DR Congo as world’s focus is on West Africa
What you need to know:
- The Out Break News, a US magazine on infectious diseases, last week reported a total of 62 cases. Notably, 31 cases occurred between September 2 and 9. The death toll was 35, with nine confirmed and 25 probable.
- Peter Piot, one of the scientists who identified the Ebola virus in 1976 and colleague Adam Kucharski, noted if cases continue the current growth pace, the worst possible scenario is another 77,000 to 277,000 by the end of the year.
- On July 2-3 representatives from at least 11 nations from regions likely to be hit by the Ebola virus attended a WHO-sponsored meeting in Accra, Ghana. Infection toll: 888. In June, Medicins Sans Frontiere, a key player in trying to stymie the outbreaks, had already said it was “out of control.”
While prominent world health officials currently aim howitzers at the Ebola virus disease outbreaks in West Africa, another is barely getting an air pistol shot.
Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo reported the latter in the country’s north to the World Health Organization on August 26.
The Out Break News, a US magazine on infectious diseases, last week reported a total of 62 cases. Notably, 31 cases occurred between September 2 and 9. The death toll was 35, with nine confirmed and 25 probable.
Encouragingly, 386 contacts linked to the initial victim had been listed and 239 followed-up. Additionally, the location is isolated, with a 100-kilometre quarantine zone and the DRC health officials don’t believe the outbreak is related to the West African one. It seems contained. However, it’s wiser to think not.
Compared to the Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone outbreaks, the DRC one is a pinprick. Last Friday the WHO put cases in West Africa at 4,366, including 2,218 deaths.
Most chilling news came the same day. Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general, told reporters in Geneva: “In the three hardest hit countries…the number of new patients is moving faster than the capacity to manage them. We need to surge at least three to four times to catch up with the outbreaks.”
WORST POSSIBLE SCENARIO
An editorial in Eurosurveilance, published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, had a scary model study.
Peter Piot, one of the scientists who identified the Ebola virus in 1976 and colleague Adam Kucharski, noted if cases continue the current growth pace, the worst possible scenario is another 77,000 to 277,000 by the end of the year.
Michael Osterholm, director, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota, took the doomsday route, telling the New York Times on Friday that “the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has the potential to alter history as much as any plague has ever done.”
This is not a blame game, but how did things go this far wrong? There’s a saying among a Kenyan ethnic group that translates into something like “The one whose stomach is running fights the bush.” In context here, read seeks help.
The outbreak hit Guinea in March and, quickly, Liberia and Sierra Leone. African health ministers and the WHO officials met in Angola the following month. Leaders of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea met in May in Guinea’s capital, Conakry. They “hailed efforts of each…to contain the spread of Ebola…” Blah! Blah!
On July 2-3 representatives from at least 11 nations from regions likely to be hit by the Ebola virus attended a WHO-sponsored meeting in Accra, Ghana. Infection toll: 888. In June, Medicins Sans Frontiere, a key player in trying to stymie the outbreaks, had already said it was “out of control.”
The Ebola virus disease isn’t new to Africa, with at least previous 21 outbreaks. African health officials know conditions under which the virus spreads and the inadequacies of nearly all African nations’ health infrastructures.
Time to holler for international help, which began pouring, in earnest, last month—thanks to the cries of the dying—was at the Conakry meeting; for the latest DRC outbreak, now!
