Guinea confirms that at least 3 people have died from Ebola, the first case in 5 years

Guinea health officials confirmed on Sunday that at least three people had died Ebola The first case was declared there, as it was one of the three countries in West Africa to fight the world’s deadliest Ebola epidemic that ended five years ago. Four more people have been identified with Ebola, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health.

According to a statement from the ministry, all seven positive cases attended a nurse’s funeral in Gueke on February 1, after which they showed symptoms of Ebola, including fever, diarrhea, and vomiting.

The government has declared an epidemic of Ebola and has begun isolation of suspected cases of contact tracing. We also sent an emergency team to support Gueke’s local team to accelerate the procurement of Ebola vaccine from the World Health Organization.

“I confirm that it is Ebola. The results prove it,” Health Minister Remy Lamar told The Associated Press by phone.

Patients were tested for Ebola after showing symptoms of hemorrhagic fever, and patients who came into contact with the sick were already quarantined, officials said.

Guinea’s announcement will take place a week after the east Congo It was confirmed that there were cases. The cases are not linked.

Guinean health experts say these latest cases are a major setback for poor countries that are already fighting COVID-19 and are still recovering from the previous outbreak of Ebola, which killed 2,500 people in Guinea where it began. It states that it may become. The outbreak killed more than 11,300 people and struck neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2016.

“We are very concerned about what the resurgence of Ebola can do for people, the economy and the health infrastructure,” said Dr. Kurtika Kupari, an assistant professor of infectious disease medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. Director of the Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone at the time of the last outbreak.

“We still understand the impact of the (last) outbreak on the population,” she said.

To curb the spread, governments and the World Health Organization must respond quickly and educate the community on what is happening, Kuppali said.

One of the reasons why the last outbreak was so fatal was that the virus was not detected immediately and local governments and the international community were slow to act when the first case occurred in rural Guinea.

An 18-month-old boy in a small village, the first patient in the epidemic, was thought to have been infected with bats, a number since the case was reported in December 2013, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was a week. Before the medical alert was issued, the virus had already spread and it took years to end it.

The new incident, announced on Sunday, is taking place in the Nuzerecore area, the same place where the previous incident began.

After hearing the news, locals in the capital said they were worried that the country could not cope with another outbreak.

“I’m worried about the news about the outbreak of Ebola in Guinea. Coronavirus is already difficult to deal with, and the healthcare system will now be overwhelmed by two pandemics,” said Mamadu Kone, a Conakry resident. It was.

“I don’t know if this curse is attacking the Guineans. All pandemics are falling on us,” said nurse Mariam Konate. “It looks like the country has been cursed,” she said.

The cause of the infection is still unknown.

Health experts hope that the availability of the Ebola vaccine will help control this outbreak quickly. Ebola is transmitted by direct contact with fluid from a person who presents with symptoms of Ebola or from a positive corpse.

Last month, the World Health Organization said it was creating a global emergency stockpile of about 500,000 Ebola vaccines to eradicate future outbreaks, but only 7,000 were available at the time of the statement. The stockpiled Ebola vaccine is made by Merck.

Donald Brooks, Chief Executive Officer of the Initiative, said: A group focused on water and sanitation that has been working to establish a public health emergency response system in West Africa.

“Otherwise, if it spreads to the heart of the city, it could lead to disastrous loss of life,” he warned.