Kananga, Kasai Occidental, Democratic Republic of Congo - 17 Sep 2007 -
The International Rescue Committee is responding to a recent outbreak of the lethal Ebola virus in the central province of Kasai Occidental, Democratic Republic of Congo. IRC staff is providing logistical support and medical supplies to the Congolese ministry of health while at the same time training health staff and communities in areas bordering the affected territory.
At least five cases of Ebola hemorrhagic fever have been confirmed in the province, where authorities have reported more than 160 deaths. The outbreak, which is centered in the Mweka territory of Kasai Occidental, was confirmed as Ebola on September 11 by laboratories in Gabon and the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. Although about 370 cases of illness have been identified, it is not clear if they are all caused by Ebola, since blood samples examined in the Congolese capital Kinshasa have also revealed traces of the Shigella bacteria.
On September 7, the IRC started training Congolese ministry of health staff in Demba, a health zone bordering Mweka, to rapidly identify and isolate suspicious cases. At six health facilities surrounding the area, the IRC has provided emergency medical kits, disinfectants, and protective equipment including gloves and masks.
Dr. Pascal Ngoy, the IRC’s primary health care advisor in Kinshasa, says that IRC-supported health canters have also launched a campaign to promote good hygiene practices that will halt further spreading of the epidemic.
“Demba is prepared,” he said. “We are informing the community about elementary hygiene measures such as washing hands, avoiding the handling of dead bodies in funeral and burial ceremonies, protecting water sources and the rapid referral of patients showing symptoms of the disease to health canters.”
The Ebola virus is spread through contact with infected people and its symptoms include fever, headache, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea. It often proves fatal within two to three days, with victims dying from severe dehydration. Local funerary rites, which involve the handling of dead bodies, and lack of hygiene practices are thought to have contributed to the spread of the disease in the Kasai. No vaccine or treatment exists that can cure the disease.
The remoteness of the affected areas and Congo’s lack of roads and infrastructure, much of it damaged by years of neglect and the 1998-2003 war, is making it harder to tackle the outbreak. The IRC has documented the link between the lack of access and high mortality in a series of studies, the
latest of which showed that more than 3.9 million people had died since 1998, mostly from preventable diseases.
The IRC has been working in Kasai Occidental since 2002 with the support of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development. IRC programs currently support 53 health canters in three of the province’s health zones, providing essential medical supplies and training local health staff to provide primary health care to severely war-affected populations.
Congo’s last major Ebola outbreak struck in 1995 in Kikwit, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of the current outbreak, claiming 244 lives.
