New Ebola cases in another province

    

    

Doctors newspaper online, 17.08.2019

    

        
        
        

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Congo

Positive news in the fight against the Ebola virus is dampened: for the first time, cases are appearing in another Congo province. The German Development Minister promises millions in aid to combat the disease.

Healthcare workers use protective equipment to check a patient isolated in a plastic cube at an Ebola treatment center in Beni, Congo.

© Jerome Delay / AP / dpa

GOMA. In eastern Congo, the dangerous Ebola virus continues to spread. For the first time, cases of the disease were found in a third province, Sud-Kivu, said the Ebola Commissioner of the Government, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, on Friday. This is a woman and her seven-month-old child. The woman had already died on Wednesday in Mwenga in Sud-Kivu, her son is currently undergoing medical treatment. Development Minister Gerd Müller (CSU) was in Congo on Thursday and met with Muyembe to find out more about the fight against Ebola.

Germany wants to support the African state with 50 million euros in the fight against poverty and the Ebola virus in the affected provinces. "We do not want people lacking because of a lack of vaccine," said Müller in the capital Kinshasa. He had met, among others, with the virologist Muyembe and promised further funding for the fight against Ebola.

Illness curable, but epidemic not under control

According to Muyembes, the disease is neither contained nor under control despite the effective antidotes being tested. Even Müller does not consider Ebola defeated, although the disease is now considered curable. Rather, it is important to tackle the country's fundamental problems holistically.

"We support research and development of vaccine and medicines and have now launched an East Congo program to stabilize the region," said Müller, emphasizing, "Poverty is the breeding ground of Ebola; we invest in agriculture to eliminate hunger. "At the same time, the health sector is being expanded to fight not only Ebola but also other diseases.

Already over 1900 Ebola dead

The epidemic has been raging for over a year already in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri in the east of the country. The authorities have so far affected nearly 2,900 people and more than 1,900 people died. In the Congo and in the neighboring countries South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, vaccination campaigns have been started.

After the devastating epidemic in West Africa 2014/2015, with more than 11,000 dead, this is the worst outbreak so far. He is particularly difficult to control because there are several militias active in the region. Again and again Ebola helpers are attacked. According to the World Refugee Bureau UNHCR, in the past three weeks alone, 145,000 people were displaced from their homes in Ituri province alone, seeking protection in refugee camps. The number of those fleeing beyond the region is estimated by the UNHCR at 215,000. (AP)

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