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DR Congo Hid Its Ebola Outbreak Until Now |
| By Patricia Doyle PhD |
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Hello Jeff - No wonder the WHO expects this Ebola outbreak to be bad. No one did a dam thing about it until May 2018. The first death back in January 2018 means this virus has been circulating for months with no serious medical intervention.
How many blacks will head for Soros' rafts now when people start dying en masse? It is possible that this Ebola outbreak will end up on our doorstep. Europe, too. Patty DRC outbreak update Cases of hemorrhagic fever were reported in an area of Congo that is facing an Ebola epidemic as far back as December [2017] and the 1st deaths were reported in January [2018], a spokesman for the World Health Organization said [Thu 10 May 2018], as 4 new suspected cases surfaced. ... An interval of as long as 5 months since the 1st infection would give the virus time potentially to have infected many people before action was taken to contain it. "According to our early information, the cases have been reported since December and the 1st deaths were reported in January [2018], but the link between the deaths and the epidemic has not yet been established," WHO Congo spokesman Eugene Kabambi told Reuters. The health ministry said on [Thu 9 May 2018] it had dispatched a team of 12 experts to the area to try to trace new contacts of the disease, identify the epicenter and all affected villages and provide resources. The epidemic so far appears to be centered around the village of Ikoko Impenge, near the town of Bikoro, where local health officials had reported 21 patients showing signs of hemorrhagic fever, of whom all but 4 of whom had died. ... [Byline: Patient Ligodi] -- [It is not clear if the early cases in December 2017 and January 2018 were not recognized as Ebola and it took a cluster of cases to alert health care practitioners, or whether they were ignored. The delay in recognition or action is unfortunate, as time is of the essence in preventing spread. The mortality rate stands at 17 deaths out of 21 cases, or 81 percent mortality if all cases are Ebola. Of course at this stage, the true denominator is not known and the numbers will change. - Mod.LK] - Cases increase to 32; boost in funding The World Health Organization (WHO) said today [10 May 2018] that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Ebola virus outbreak has grown to 32 cases, 3 of them in health workers, as more responders arrive on the scene and as funding help comes from the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, in the United States, news yesterday [9 May 2018] of the exit of one of the country's top global health officials, coming on the heels of President Trump's proposed rescission of earlier Ebola response funds, has deepened concerns about the nation's preparedness for an epidemic such as Ebola. Outbreak developments All of the illnesses are in the Bikoro health zone in the DRC's Equateur province and are from the area covered by the Ikoko-Impenge health facility, about 19 miles [about 31 km] from Bikoro's central health zone office. Of 21 cases, 17 had epidemiologic links to other patients, the WHO said. It added that, of 8 previous Ebola outbreaks in the DRC, 4 occurred in Equateur province, though the new outbreak is the 1st to strike the Bikoro health zone. Home to about 163 000 people, Bikoro has 3 hospitals and 19 health centers, but most of them have limited service. The WHO said it considers the risk within the DRC as high because of the nature of the disease and the lack of information about the scope of the outbreak. For the region, it said the risk is moderate because of the hot spot's location near the Congo River, which connects it to the capitals of the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. Yesterday [9 May 2018], the DRC's health ministry reported that 12 members of its expert team had arrived in Mbandka, the capital of Equateur province, to investigate the outbreak, identify contacts, and assess resources, according to a press release translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board. The ministry said the multidisciplinary team will be supported by lab technicians who will move mobile labs from the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) to the area. The team also brought rapid diagnostic tests and laser thermometers, and health protection kits and medications were already in place in Mbandaka, the release said. In a related development, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said yesterday [9 May 2018] that an emergency team is working with the DRC's health ministry and other international groups to assess and support a rapid response to the outbreak. It added that its team is based in the Bikoro health zone and in Kinshasa. Julien Raickman, head of MSF's DRC mission, said in the statement that MSF has worked alongside Congolese official in the past to care for patients and help control outbreaks. "At the moment, there is an experienced MSF team in Bikoro, made up of medics, water and sanitation experts, health promoters, logisticians, and an epidemiologist," Raickman said. "The team is working with the national authorities and other international organizations to assess the situation and to ensure that the outbreak is contained." Yesterday [9 May 2018], a WHO Ebola expert aired serious concerns about the DRC's latest Ebola outbreak, given signs that it may have been underway for weeks or months and that several locations may be involved, STAT [health news website] reported. Pierre Formenty, DVM, MPH, also told STAT that though the outbreak is in a remote location, it is on a lake port that raises the worrying possibility of infected people traveling by boat via the Congo and Ubangi rivers to the large cities of Kinshasa, Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, or Bangui in the Central African Republic. He added that the WHO is in talks with the DRC and Republic of Congo governments to set up a way to control boat traffic on the Congo River to identify any sick travelers. Wellcome Trust, UK announce funds In its statement, Wellcome Trust said the funding will help the DRC and WHO conduct critical research. Jeremy Farrar, MD, PhD, Wellcome's director, said, the group made the funds available immediately. "It's vital the global response to this outbreak is swift. We know from previous outbreaks that the DRC are ready to act, but they need global support to ensure this outbreak is contained effectively," he added. The funds from Wellcome Trust and DFID come on top of USD 1 million [about GBP 740 000] that the WHO has already released from its emergency contingency fund. ... [Byline: Lisa Schnirring ] -- [The Health Minister -- see below -- has advocated for the use of vaccination to protect the population and medical personnel in Bikoro health zone in the DRC's Equateur province. We hope this will be approved by the DR Congo and WHO will be able to ship a supply of the vaccine as soon as possible. The most likely candidate is the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine, which underwent clinical trials in West Africa. - Mod.LK HealthMap/ProMED-mail map |