Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo are racing to crack down on a possible Ebola uprising, after a woman died from the virus near the eastern city of Butembo.
The woman showed symptoms on February 1 in the town of Biena, North Kivu. She died at the hospital in Butembo two days later. She was married to a man who contracted the virus in a previous rebellion.
“It was a farmer, the wife of an Ebola survivor, who showed normal symptoms of the disease on February 1,” health minister Eteni Longondo told RTNC state television.
The virus can live in the semen of those who have survived male for more than three years, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“The department’s response team is already hard working. He will be supported by the national response team which will visit Butembo soon, ”said the health ministry’s statement.
The news could mark the beginning of Congo ‘s second Ebola outbreak since the virus was discovered near the Ebola River in 1976, more than twice as much as in any other country.
The symptoms are severe: high fever and muscle pain followed by vomiting and diarrhea, skin rash, kidney and liver failure, internal and external bleeding.
It comes three months after the Congo announced the onset of a single uprising, hundreds of miles to the west, which affected 130 people and killed 55.
Extensive use of Ebola vaccines, given to more than 40,000 people, has helped reduce the disease.
That uprising in the west of the country was sparked by an earlier one in the east that began in 2018 and ended in June. It killed more than 2,200 people, the second largest in the history of the disease. It was exacerbated by unprecedented challenges, including established conflict between armed groups, the world’s largest pandemic, and the spread of Covid.
The emergence of more cases could cause problems to eradicate Covid-19, which has captured 23,600 people and killed 681 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A vaccination campaign is expected to begin in the first half of this year.
“While there is hope that this disease could be identified early with the rapid introduction of this revolution, the backward Ebola and Covid-19 uprisings have affected Congo’s health systems. stretched to a minimum and this could put far greater pressure on an already exasperated system, ”said Jason Kindrachuk, assistant professor in the department of medical microbiology and infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba in Canada. and is researching survivors of the 2014-2016 Ebola revolution in West Africa, the deadliest ever
Congo’s equatorial forests are a natural reservoir for the Ebola virus, which causes diarrhea and diarrhea and is spread through contact with body fluids such as blood, vomiting and semen. .
In a statement on Sunday, the World Health Organization said it was not uncommon for sporadic cases to occur after a major uprising and that previous Ebola responses were making it easier to deal with this one.
“The knowledge and capacity of local health teams has been crucial in detecting this new Ebola outbreak and paving the way for a timely response,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa. The WHO is investigating the case and trying to identify the strain of the virus to confirm its association with the previous behavior.
Congo has suffered more than a quarter of a year of conflict and the trust of government health workers and others outside is high in eastern Congo. Residents in Butembo are already wondering why it took four days from the time the woman was tested to announce the results.
“It’s disappointing because the binders have moved and will be difficult to find,” said Butembo resident Vianey Kasondoli.
“Government and the health ministry need to contain the disease as soon as possible. ”
The average death rate from Ebola is around 50% but this can rise to 90% for some illnesses, according to the World Health Organization.
The virus that causes Ebola is believed to live in bats.