The health authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo declared, this Saturday April 23, a new epidemic of Ebola after the confirmation of a case in Mbandaka, capital of the province of Equateur, in the North-West part. from the country.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is facing a new Ebola epidemic. This is the 14th since 1976. “Time is not on our side. The disease has taken a two week head start and we are now playing catch up. The good news is that health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have more experience than anyone else in the world in rapidly controlling Ebola outbreaks,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, Regional Director of the World Health Organization. Health (WHO) for Africa.
This new epidemic declared in Mbandaka, capital of the province of Equateur, is the third epidemic outbreak in this province since 2018. According to our sources on site, so far, only one case has been confirmed. He is a man in his thirties who has been showing symptoms of this disease since April 5. On April 21, “the patient was admitted to an Ebola treatment center for intensive care but died later that night. After recognizing the symptoms, health workers immediately took samples for laboratory testing for Ebola virus disease,” the WHO said.
After the announcement of this epidemic, the health authorities affirm that investigations were opened to determine the source of the epidemic. “Teams from the Provincial Health Division and Wangata Health Zone are already on the ground carrying out response activities, including listing and tracking approximately 74 contacts so far and decontaminating health facilities and of households is underway,” said Dr Jean-Jacques Mbungani, Minister of Health.
The WHO, for its part, specifies that it is working to ” stem the current epidemic “. In addition, the UN health agency recommends vaccination to deal with this disease. “Many people in Mbandaka are already vaccinated against Ebola, which should help reduce the impact of the disease. Everyone who was vaccinated during the 2020 outbreak will be revaccinated,” said Dr. Moeti.
To read : DRC: end of the 13th Ebola epidemic (Official)