A patient who tested positive for the Ebola virus fled from a clinic in Beni, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), taking the risk of contaminating other people.
While the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) seemed on the verge of overcoming the second largest Ebola epidemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) fears a new wave of contamination after the escape of a patient. Hospitalized in a clinic in Beni, a ch28-year-old motorcycle taxi driver fled after testing positive.
There is no information to date to explain this leak, or even to know where the patient went. “We don’t have any details yet (…) Research is ongoing”, said Boubacar Diallo, a WHO official. His escape comes as new cases have been detected two days away from proclaiming the end of the epidemic.
New cases 2 days before the official end of the epidemic
On April 10, a 26-year-old man died near Beni after 52 days with no new cases. Health authorities have identified “28 contacts” of this patient,including 26 co-patients and two healthcare providers, one of whom is vaccinated.”
In a statement, the WHO explains that on the same day, “three new cases have been confirmed – the first two relate to people who died in the village, the third occurred in someone who had contact with one of them. Research is underway to find the source of their infection. It is likely that new cases will appear.”
The Congolese authorities must now wait to pass the milestone of 42 days (twice the maximum incubation period) without new cases to proclaim the end of this new epidemic which has cost the life of 2,276 people.
measles and cholera
At the same time, Congo is facing its first cases of Covid-19 (with 25 deaths for 327 cases) and epidemic outbreaks of measles and cholera. All the efforts made to contain the Ebola epidemic indeed prevent the authorities from being on all fronts.
In a recent reportthe United Nations Children’s Fund explains that “efforts and financial resources to stem the Ebola epidemic in the east of the country “have diverted attention and funds previously granted to already weakened health facilities, which face several deadly endemic diseases.”
A measles epidemic has infected 332,000 people since the start of 2019: more than 6,200 victims have been identified, of which around 85% were children under the age of 5. Thirty-one thousand cases of cholera were also counted, of which 45% were children. “Around 16.5 million cases of malaria were recorded in 2019, resulting in nearly 17,000 deaths. Children under 5 are the most severely affected by the disease.”
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