Health officials in the southeastern district of N’Zerekore said seven people who attended a nurse’s funeral tested positive for the disease and experienced symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding. Three of them died after the February 1 funeral. It is unclear whether the nurse, who worked at the local health center, died from Ebola.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has pledged its support to Guinea, helping to acquire the Ebola vaccine, which has helped control recent outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their teams are already on the ground and also help ensure infection prevention and control in health facilities and other key locations, as well as reaching out to communities.
An Ebola treatment center will also be opened in the Gouecke region of N’Zerekore, where the outbreak was reported.
The Red Cross said in a statement that a network of more than 700 volunteers has been activated as part of a first wave of response and the government has asked people to respect hygiene and prevention measures and that notify the signs of the disease to the health authorities “.
The largest Ebola outbreak in the world to date began in 2014 in Guinea and continued until 2016, spreading to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone. More than 28,000 people became infected and more than 11,000 died.
The current outbreak has started again in a border area of Guinea and the WHO says it is working with the health authorities of Liberia and Sierra Leone to increase surveillance in border districts as well as to improve the capacity to test cases.
“WHO supports authorities to establish testing structures, contact tracking and treatment and to provide the overall response at full speed.”
West African countries are on high alert and Nigeria says it is monitoring the situation and will issue public health advice to address the concerns of Africa’s most populous nation.
Ebola virus disease, which most often affects non-human people and primates such as monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees, is a serious disease that is spreading from wild animals to humans for the first time. Humans can be infected by other humans if they come in contact with body fluids from an infected person or contaminated objects from infected people. Humans may also be exposed to the virus, for example, by slaughtering infected animals.
The health agency said it is working with partners to provide essential medical supplies to support local health authorities. Vaccinations in the region also began on Monday.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has so far faced several outbreaks of Ebola. In June 2020, the DRC reported the eleventh outbreak of Ebola. A total of 130 confirmed and probable cases were recorded, as well as 55 deaths.
CNN’s Maria Fleet, Mia Alberti, Meera Senthilingam, Sharon Braithwaite, and Nimi Princewill contributed to this report.