DR Congo records first Ebola death in three months
February 7, 2021
The World Health Organization said researchers were examining samples from the patient for potential links to the previous outbreak. WHO has traced at least 70 contacts to the new case.
WHO said that it was not unusual to detect sporadic cases after major outbreaksImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/J. Delay
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The Health Ministry of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Sunday announced a death in a new Ebola virus case, three months after the declared end the previous outbreak.
"We have another episode of the Ebola virus" in the eastern city Butembo of North Kivu province, Health Minister Eteni Longondo said, according to AFP news agency.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Twitter that its response team has identified at least 70 contacts to the case.
The woman, whose husband had contracted the virus previously, was found with Ebola symptoms on February 1 and died two days later.
The health ministry said that a sample of the woman's blood tested positive for Ebola after her death.
Researchers are examining samples from the case to determine if it is linked to the last Ebola outbreak in Congo, WHO said.
First recorded case since 11th outbreak
In November, the DRC announced containing its 11th outbreak, that killed 55 out of 130 cases over about six months, in the northwestern province of Equateur.
Congo had just announced containing its most lethal outbreak that began in 2018 in the eastern part of the country, about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) away from Equateur, when a resurgence was recorded in 2020.
The African country has experienced 11 outbreaks since the virus was first discovered near the Ebola River in 1976, more than double any other country.
The country's equatorial forests have a receptive environment for the highly contagious virus, which spreads through contact with body fluids, causing severe vomiting and diarrhea.
The new case also threatens Congo's efforts in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, which has already infected over 23,000 people and killed at least 600.
Congo is set to roll out its vaccination campaign against COVID-19 before the summer.
fb/shs (AFP, AP, Reuters)
WHO international health emergency declarations
In the event of a deadly outbreak, World Health Organization (WHO) experts can declare whether the disease constitutes a global health emergency. It's a distinction the WHO has only made five times in the past decade.
Image: AP
A public health emergency
In the event of a deadly disease outbreak, a group of World Health Organization (WHO) experts can declare a "public health emergency of international concern," or PHEIC, to trigger global action. Since the procedures to declare a PHEIC were implemented in 2005, the WHO has only done so six times. Let's take a look back at the prior instances.
Image: AP
Coronavirus
In 2020, the WHO declared a global health emergency over a new coronavirus that originated in China but that spread to several countries across the world, including Germany. Officials said the declaration was due to "the potential for this virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems which are ill-prepared to deal with it."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/V. Yu
Swine flu
It is estimated that the 2019 H1N1 influenza (also known as swine flu) pandemic, which began in Veracruz, Mexico, killed as many as 284,500 people. That's more than 15 times the original estimate of 18,500. The UK-based journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, however, has suggested that the true number of dead could have ultimately been as high as 579,000. Here, a Chinese medic prepares a vaccination.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
Ebola in West Africa
The outbreak of the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia between 2013 and 2016 was deadlier than all other Ebola outbreaks combined, killing at least 11,300 people. A 2018 study by the Oxford-based Journal of Infectious Diseases estimated the outbreak cost the three countries involved as much as $53 billion (€48 billion).
Image: Reuters
Polio
In 2014, Pakistan's failure to curb the spread of polio prompted the WHO to declare the disease's resurgence a PHEIC. The warning covered Pakistan, Syria and Cameroon. At the time, Pakistan accounted for more than one-fifth of the world's 417 reported cases.
Image: picture alliance/ZUMA Press/M. Achakzai
Zika
In 2016, the Zika virus was declared a PHEIC by the WHO. The outbreak was identified in Brazil in 2015. Ultimately, the disease spread to 60 countries, with 2,300 confirmed cases of microcephaly among newborns. Microcephaly causes birth defects such as abnormally small heads, which can lead to developmental problems.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Lacerda
Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
In July 2019, after its fourth meeting since the DRC's outbreak began, the WHO Emergency Committee on Ebola declared it a PHEIC. As of January 14, 2020, the WHO had confirmed 3,406 cases of Ebola in the DRC, including some 2,236 deaths since the outbreak began in August 2018. The WHO estimates the disease could cost the DRC as much as $1 billion (€900,000 million).
