Guinea is battling a new Ebola outbreak, West African nation health officials said on Sunday, with at least three deaths in a region that was previously the starting point for the worst epidemic of all time.
The three deceased – two women and one man – were among seven people who developed symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding after attending a nurse’s funeral in the southeastern part of the country on Feb.1, the Ministry of Health said in a statement With.
Officials confirmed an epidemic on Sunday after a laboratory found the virus in the first three samples tested by the patients.
“The government assures people that all measures are being taken to contain this epidemic as soon as possible,” the Guinean Ministry of Health said in a Facebook post on Sunday, adding that people are reporting more symptoms to health authorities, and hygiene and prevention should respect dimensions. It also said it would expedite the delivery of vaccines to the area and open a center to deal with established cases.
Guinea had not seen an Ebola case since 2016 when it came to an end to an epidemic that began in its southeastern region in 2014. This deadliest outbreak to date spread to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone, eventually infecting more than 28,000 people in 10 countries, killing more than 11,000.
The resurgence comes as West Africa is still grappling with the coronavirus pandemic and after the Democratic Republic of the Congo also found new cases of Ebola three months after health officials said they wiped out the most recent outbreak in the Congo.
Dr. Mashidiso Moeti, regional director of the World Health Organization for Africa, said on Twitter on Sunday that she was “very concerned” about the reports from Guinea and that the agency was “stepping up preparedness and response efforts for this possible resurgence”.
The Ebola virus spreads through contact with body fluids or secretions from an infected or recently deceased person and causes a hemorrhagic fever with an average death rate of about half, although two vaccines are now available for it.
“We will quickly deploy vital resources to help Guinea,” said Drs. Georges Alfred Ki-Zerbo, a representative of the World Health Organization, told the Agence France-Presse news agency, adding that the group was in contact with the maker of a vaccine to dispense doses to control the outbreak.
“The arsenal is stronger now and we will use this to contain this situation as soon as possible,” said Dr. Ki-zerbo.
Anna Holland contributed to the reporting.
