The World Health Organisation has described the Ebola outbreak in the DRC as sitting on an “epidemiological knife-edge”, as the virus ravages through the country.
The government has confirmed nine deaths but it is widely believed a total of 22 people have been killed by the virus so far. Leading Ebola expert, Håkon Bolkan said:
“The outbreak is definitely not under control yet. Within the following few weeks, we can expect surveillance to become more reliable and we will be able to know for sure if the number of new cases is more than those cured”
The DRC’s government announced the Ebola outbreak on May 8th, after a series of suspected cases were reported to the Ministry of Health. The Minister, Oly Ilunga, has urged residents to come forward for the vaccinations before the Ebola outbreak reaches pandemic levels:
“In the next five days 100 people must be vaccinated, including 70 health professionals. The priority of the government is to ensure that all these brave health professionals can do their job safely.”
Mr Bolkan declared the chances of the virus spreading to neighbouring countries is low:
“The chances are there, that infected individuals travel to nearby countries, because the initial symptoms of Ebola are very unspecific, like a common cold or flu. However, all previous eight Ebola epidemics in the DRC have been contained within the country and given the awareness at local, national and international level. My take is that it is not likely to see this epidemic spread to nearby countries.”
This recent outbreak comes just four years after West Africa was gripped by the worst Ebola outbreak in history.
WHO emergencies chief Peter Salama told reporters that the response has gone “quite smoothly” and that the agency’s first priority had been to stop the spread in Mbandaka, a city of more than 1 million that sits on a river described as a “highway” connecting it to other regions.
“We can’t conclude we have safeguarded the city of Mbandaka, but so far there hasn’t been an explosive increase in cases … We have reason to be cautiously optimistic,” Salama said.