A 16-month-old boy and his mother are recovering from Ebola in rare good news from the outbreak in Congo
BUONIA, Congo (AP) — A 16-month-old boy and his mother have recovered from Ebola in eastern Congo, a rare positive development as Africa’s top health authority warns that the outbreak of the deadly virus could become the worst ever if it continues to spread.
The two left the Rwambara treatment center on Tuesday near Bunia in Ituri District, the epicenter of the outbreak, along with five other people who also recovered from Ebola.
“The joy was enormous considering the condition he was in at the beginning,” Kahindo Mireille Beret said of her baby boy. “If you had seen him before, you wouldn’t believe he could have this power now,” she added.
Beret said she brought her child to the treatment center at the end of May, after he started bleeding from the mouth and nose and could barely move.
Mudit Kamara, a doctor at the centre, said the child was treated with antibiotics after a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test showed he was infected with Ebola on his second day in hospital.
Congo’s Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that 837 cases of the virus have been confirmed so far, including 196 confirmed deaths. However, the number of cases is believed to be higher due to… The outbreak has been confirmed on May 15, weeks after it was suspected to have begun.
Since the outbreak was declared in mid-May 49 I have recoveredThe ministry said.
The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved treatment or vaccine. The more common Zaire virus, for which a vaccine is now available, has been responsible for most of the past 16 cases in Congo. Disease outbreak.
More than 90% of the current outbreak is concentrated in Ituri Province, eastern Congo. Cases have also been recorded in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces and have spread across the border into Uganda.
The head of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Tuesday that the outbreak of the disease could become the worst ever, noting that tens of thousands of contacts of infected patients have not yet been traced.
“If we do not stop the outbreak very soon, it will be worse than in West Africa and eastern DRC,” Jean Cassia, director general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a virtual meeting of African heads of state.
The outbreak was a decade ago in several countries in West Africa The worst everWith more than 28 thousand cases of infection and more than 11 thousand deaths.
Nearly a million people have been displaced by years of conflict in Ituri, according to the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs, making contact tracing difficult as people flee attacks or move frequently in the vast region, which is home to dense forests, poor roads and remote villages that can take days to reach.
It is also difficult to track the thousands of miners who regularly move between remote sites in the mineral-rich region.
