Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have declared a resurgence of Ebola late last night, following confirmation of one case in the country’s eastern province of North Kivu.
A 46-year-old woman died on 15th August 2022 in Beni, a town located in North Kivu. She received care at the Beni Referral Hospital, initially for other ailments, but subsequently exhibited symptoms consistent with Ebola virus disease.
Both the Beni and Goma branches of the country’s National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) confirmed Ebola virus in samples taken from the patient. Analyses showed that the case was genetically linked to the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces—the country’s longest and largest.
“Ebola resurgences are occurring with greater frequency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which is concerning. However, health authorities in North Kivu have successfully stopped several Ebola flare-ups and building on this expertise will no doubt bring this one under control quickly”.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa.
A statement issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that WHO staff and health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo are working to stem the spread of the disease, having identified 160 contact persons whose health conditions are being closely monitored.
WHO disclosed that investigations are ongoing to determine the vaccination status of the confirmed case.
There are 1000 doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccines available in the country’s stockpile, 200 of which will be sent to Beni this week. Ring-vaccination—where contacts and contacts of contacts are vaccinated to curb the spread of the virus and protect lives—is expected to begin shortly.
The last flare-up in North Kivu’s Beni health zone was brought under control in about two months, ending on 16 December 2021. There were 11 cases (eight confirmed, three probable), including six deaths.
DR Congo declares end to Ebola outbreak
In July 2022, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared the end of its 14th Ebola outbreak after less than three months.
There were four confirmed cases of Ebola and one probable case, all of whom died, the WHO highlighted in a statement. The outbreak was the third in Congo’s north-west Equateur province.
In the previous outbreak in Equateur Province that lasted from June to November 2020, there were 130 confirmed cases and 55 deaths.
According to WHO, the just ended outbreak saw a total of 2,104 people vaccinated, including 302 contacts and 1307 frontline workers.
The UN health agency supported the DRC in implementing a strong national strategy developed early to guide response coordination; decentralizing operations to the lowest level to work closely with communities; basing the response on evidence; and regularly analyzing the epidemiological risk to rapidly adjust the response.
Last month, the WHO noted that although the outbreak in Mbandaka has been declared over, health authorities are maintaining surveillance and are ready to respond quickly to any flare-ups.
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