Vaccination for Ebola in DRC faces hardships from its own people. (Image via BBC)

Ebola Outbreak: Death toll in DRC rises to 2,000

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business & Industry
Medical and Health
Sep 29, 2019
2631
Since July 2018, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been suffering from the 10th Ebola outbreak. The 10th outbreak has been the longest and the worst epidemic ever since. In early August 2018, at least 103 cases were identified and 63 deaths were confirmed in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces, eastern DRC.

Currently, at least 2,000 people had fallen victim to the disease which has no cure yet according to the data by the DRC’s Ministry of Health.

Ever since the first case of Ebola on the land in June 2019, Uganda has been putting strict restrictions on the people such as a strict screening process at the border which was proven successful in tackling the epidemic.

A 9-year-old girl, known to be exposed to Ebola while traveling en route from DRC to Uganda, to obtain medical treatment, had died. After she was recognized at the border, the girl was immediately transferred to the Bwera Ebola Treatment Unit in Kasese. However, it was too late for the 9-year-old as she succumbed to the disease on 30 August.

Calculating the death toll since the first outbreak, it has exceeded 3,000 cases. DRC reported that from 3,186 cases of reported hemorrhagic fever, some 3,072 were confirmed to be Ebola cases. About 69 people were being treated for Ebola and 989 people had recovered from the virus.

At least 114 people died due to hemorrhagic fever, but it was unknown whether it was Ebola or not. One of the most common symptoms of Ebola is the hemorrhagic fever. However, the Ebola sufferer often succumbs to organ failure and dehydration. Ebola sufferer is isolated as their body fluid may contaminate others.

Since its invention in 1976 in the Ebola River in DRC, it killed at least 900 people in its wake. Ebola first posed a great threat to the world in 2014 – 2016 when it killed about 11,300 people and infecting 28,600 as it struck countries in West Africa.

While the DRC government is struggling to establish health centers to treat possible and confirmed cases of Ebola, it is halted by its own people. In 2018, hoaxes regarding Ebola was spread among the people, and in 2019, about 200 centers were attacked.

World Health Organization (WHO) stated that all the countries in Africa should not have underestimated Ebola anymore and referred to it as the “most complex humanitarian crisis”.

Source: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/ebola-death-toll-in-dr-congo-rises-over-2-000/1596920

Health , Medical , Epidemic , Ebola , Africa , Congo , Uganda