WHO Begins Ebola Vaccination In DR Congo

The World Health Organisation (WHO), on Sunday, said it has begun vaccinating frontline health workers and contacts of people infected with Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kasai Province, where an outbreak has been declared.

The WHO said an initial 400 doses of the Ervebo Ebola vaccine from the country’s stockpile of 2,000 doses have been delivered to Bulape, which is the outbreak’s epicentre.

According to the global health body, the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision has approved the dispatch of 45,000 additional Ebola vaccine doses to Congo.

THE WHISTLER recalls that on September 4, health authorities in the DR Congo declared an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Kasai Province, and that 15 people died of the disease including four health workers.

According to the ministry, this is the 16th outbreak of this deadly virus in the vast central African state that has poor health services. The latest outbreak is in central Kasai province, with 28 suspected cases recorded.

The latest data from the health ministry in Kinshasa said there were 32 suspected cases, 20 confirmed cases and 16 deaths.

WHO Programme Area Manager, Patrick Otim stressed that containing the outbreak is possible, but it will be challenging if the window of opportunity is missed.

Otim said the outbreak may expand, pointing out that one new case was confirmed 70 km from the current epicentre and that there was a moderate risk of it spreading to other countries, in particular neighbouring Angola.

Meanwhile, WHO noted that in addition to the vaccines, treatment courses of the monoclonal antibody therapy (Mab114) drug have also been sent to treatment centres in Bulape for clinical care.

It added that the UN body has also deployed 48 experts in disease surveillance, clinical care, infection prevention and control, logistics, and community engagement who, along with partner organisations, are supporting the government to rapidly strengthen outbreak response measures to halt the spread of the virus.

“In countries neighbouring the Democratic Republic of the Congo, WHO is working with national authorities to bolster operational readiness to enable rapid detection of cases and prompt initiation of measures to curb further spread.

“WHO assesses the overall public health risk posed by the ongoing outbreak as high at the national level, moderate at the regional level, and low at the global level,” it stated.

Ebola virus disease is a rare but severe and often fatal illness in humans. It is transmitted to people through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as fruit bats (thought to be the natural hosts).

Human-to-human transmission occurs through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with, or has died from, Ebola; through objects contaminated with body fluids from an infected person; or through the body of a person who died from the disease.