Kinshasa, 03.09 (ACP) .-
The updated statistics of the Congolese Ministry of Health on the
epidemic of Ebola virus disease plaguing the health zone Boende south of
the province of Ecuador, northwest of the DRC, indicate that five new
cases have recently been reported, thus raising the number of cases from
53 to 58 September 1 to September 3, 2014.
According to the Ministry of Public Health, a cumulative total of 58
cases, there are 13 confirmed, 22 probable and 23 suspected, with 31
deaths (mortality rate 53.4%), including six health workers. To date, 291 people have been in contact patients are followed which 285 were seen.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Felix Kabange Numbi, arrived Tuesday in
Boende after a 24 hour stopover in Mbandaka, capital of Ecuador, at the
head of a delegation that includes the representative of World Health
Organization (WHO) in the DRC, Dr. Joseph Waogodo Caboré, director of
the Department of Vaccines and Immunization at WHO in Geneva, Dr. Jean
Marie Okwo Bele (originally from the DRC) and Director of the National
Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) Kinshasa, the professor and
virologist Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum.
According to a press release from the WHO office in the DRC, the
Congolese Minister of Public Health said during his visit to Mbandaka
the DRC and its partners are launching a major challenge in
can interrupt the chain of transmission of this deadly virus within 45 days. He also said it is crucial that the Ebola virus disease remains confined in one area of health Boende and it does not reach Mbandaka, the provincial County seat, access and exchange with Kinshasa made by the Congo River.
can interrupt the chain of transmission of this deadly virus within 45 days. He also said it is crucial that the Ebola virus disease remains confined in one area of health Boende and it does not reach Mbandaka, the provincial County seat, access and exchange with Kinshasa made by the Congo River.
The Health Zone Boende is located 1,200 kilometers from Kinshasa, and
600 km south-east of Mbandaka, in a region with high hydrography,
including large Lomela, Salonga and Tshuapa rivers experiencing intense
fishing activities and 'trade of food products with other border
communities of two neighboring provinces further south, Kasai Occidental
and Kasai Oriental.
In the city of Boende, located 68 km from Lokolia which is the
epicenter of the epidemic, there is the International Committee of
Technical and Scientific Coordination (CICTS), which coordinates the
management of all the statistics of the epidemic, developing an update
of the status report of the disease. The same CICTS must ensure infection control in the isolation of patients set up by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Centre....
