Recent statements by the World Health Organization cast doubt on the ability of states to quickly eradicate the Ebola epidemic. Six to nine months of effort would still be necessary.
This is bad news for those who thought the Ebola epidemic would soon be under control. World Health Organization (WHO) Deputy Director for Health Security Keiji Fukuda and UN Ebola Coordinator David Nabarro were in Liberia to assess the situation and the damage caused by the epidemic. They were to meet with doctors and government officials to discuss care and strategies to fight the epidemic. The opportunity also for them to explain that it would not be eradicated soon.
An “unprecedented situation”
Six to nine months of “relentless effort”, to use Mr Fukuda’s words, would thus be necessary, in order to control the spread of the disease, and to succeed in reversing the trend. The difficulties in reaching populations, in taking care of them, or even in convincing them to come for treatment, partly explain the extent of the problem.
In Sierra Leone, drastic measures have also been taken to encourage patients to go to health centers. Indeed, the parliament passed a law punishing with two years in prison “anyone who hides a patient infected with Ebola or other contagious diseases of the same nature”.
But the two special envoys of the WHO and the UN also specified that the situation was complicated to change, because completely unprecedented. This is the first time, they say, that the epidemic has reached both cities and rural areas so quickly. At the same time, the organization Médecins Sans Frontières also showed its pessimism, saying that it was expecting a new outbreak of cases in the coming days in Liberia.
Unknown fever in Congo
There is therefore urgency. As of August 20, the death toll stood at 1,427 deaths, out of 2,615 recorded cases. Liberia is the most affected country, with 624 dead since the start of the epidemic. But the results are not very positive either in Guinea (406 deaths), Sierra Leone (392 deaths) and even in Nigeria (5 deaths), a country affected later. Some neighbors, such as Gabon, have suspended sea and air links with these affected countries.
And concerns are growing in the region, especially as it was also learned Friday that 13 people had died in the Democratic Republic of Congo, following an epidemic of hemorrhagic fever, of unknown origin.
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