A total of 43 cases of haemorrhagic fever Ebola, including 13 confirmed, were recorded since the beginning of the new epidemic in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo declared on 1 st August, said Saturday the Ministry of Health .
Thirty-three deaths, including three of the 13 confirmed cases, were recorded, according to the Epidemiological Situation Report released on Saturday.
The health minister announced on Wednesday that a new epidemic was spreading around the city of Beni, in North Kivu province, just a week after announcing the end of a previous outbreak in the north-west, who killed 33 people.
As in the previous epidemic, “vaccination will be an integral part of the response,” says the ministry.
“We know there have been three cases in Beni hospital that are positive and six in Mangina,” said the director general of the fight against the disease, Dr. Ndjoloko Tambwe Bathé.
These nine confirmed cases are in addition to the four that tested positive on the six samples tested on July 31.
The outbreak was reported in Mangina, a village 30 kilometers southwest of Beni. There, the health authorities were alerted by the case of a 65-year-old woman “died at home” in late July after hospitalization.
“After her insecure burial, the family members who cared for her began to show the same symptoms, and seven of them died,” the ministry said Saturday.
More Possible Cases Ebola Not Reported
Probable cases have also been recorded in the neighboring province of Ituri.
“We are turning on all the machines needed to stem the spread of the epidemic in Beni. We are only on the third day of the organization of the response. We can not tell you that there is a good evolution or not, for the simple reason that we are doing the inventory, “added the director general of fight against the disease, quoted on the site of the UN Okapi radio.
A Volatile Region
This region north of North Kivu province is already threatened by armed groups, including the formidable Allied Democratic Forces in Uganda, which have been terrorizing Beni for several years.
A new epidemic in a conflict zone is of great concern to the World Health Organization. “On the scale of difficulty, trying to extinguish an outbreak of a deadly dangerous pathogen in a war zone is at the top,” said Peter Salama, Deputy Director General for Emergency Response.
Andy Roberts is a seasoned journalist with nearly 9 years experience. While studying journalism at Ryerson, Annie found a passion for finding engaging stories. As a contributor to White Pine Tribune, Annie mostly covers provincial and national developments..
