#13,459
The World Health Organization has published their weekly DON (Disease Outbreak News) summary of the the ongoing Ebolavirus outbreak in the DRC, with the sobering news that 8 more HCWs have been diagnosed with the virus.
The only good news is that reports earlier this week of suspected cases outside of the DRC - including in Uganda - have all tested negative for the virus.That said, the potential for exporting cases to other regions remains a genuine concern. I've only posted some excerpts from a much longer report, so follow the link to read it in its entirety.
Ebola virus disease – Democratic Republic of the Congo
Disease outbreak news
17 August 2018
On 1 August 2018, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the town of Mangina, Mabalako Health Zone, North Kivu Province. Confirmed cases have since between reported from Beni and Mandima health zones, Ituri Province; however, all confirmed exposures and transmission events to date have been linked back to the outbreak epi-centre, Mangina. North Kivu and Ituri are among the most populated provinces in the country, share borders with Uganda and Rwanda, and experience conflict and insecurity, with over one million internally displaced people and migration of refugees to neighbouring countries.
As of 15 August 2018, 78 EVD cases (51 confirmed and 27 probable), including 44 deaths, have been reported.1 Since the DON published on 9 August, 34 new confirmed cases have been reported: seven from Ituri Province (Mandima Health Zone) and 27 from North Kivu Province (one in Beni and 26 in Mabalako health zones). The 78 confirmed or probable cases reside in five health zones in North Kivu and one health zone in Ituri. The majority of cases (39 confirmed and 21 probable) have been reported from Mangina in Mabalako Health Zone (Figure 1). As of 15 August, 24 suspected cases are currently pending laboratory testing to confirm or exclude EVD.
Eight new confirmed cases among health care workers have been reported, bringing the total number of infected health care workers to 10 (nine confirmed and one probable deceased case).
These health care workers were likely exposed in clinics, not Ebola treatment centres (ETCs), many of which may have been infected before the declaration of the outbreak. WHO and partners are working to increase awareness of Ebola among health care and other frontline workers, and to strengthen infection prevention and control (IPC) measures.
The MoH, WHO and partners continue to systematically monitor and rapidly investigate all alerts in other provinces and in neighbouring countries. Since the last DON was published, alerts in several provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Central African Republic were investigated; EVD was ruled out for all.
For more information, see:
Ebola situation reports: Democratic Republic of the Congo
(Continue . . . )
