After less than three months, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has declared the end of its 14th Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Monday.
The WHO reported that there were four verified cases and one probable case, all of whom were fatal. The third epidemic in Equateur province in northwest Congo.
Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa said: “Thanks to the robust response by the national authorities, this outbreak has been brought to an end swiftly with limited transmission of the virus.”
“Crucial lessons have been learned from past outbreaks and they have been applied to devise and deploy an ever more effective Ebola response,” she said.
Recent epidemics have largely been contained with vaccination, which was started barely four days after the previous outbreak was declared.
Ebola is endemic to the Congo, where it was first found in 1976 close to the Ebola river.
Through contact with body fluids from an infected person, the virus that causes hemorrhagic fever can be transferred.
On April 27, 2022, News Central reported that Ebola vaccination have begun in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to combat an outbreak in the northwest city of Mbandaka.
Although the outbreak in Mbandaka has been deemed to be finished, health officials are still keeping an eye on things and are prepared to act promptly if anything changes. Following an outbreak, occasional cases are not uncommon.
A total of 2104 persons, including 302 contacts and 1307 frontline workers, received vaccinations during the recently terminated outbreak. An ultra-cold chain freezer was erected in Mbandaka to help with the vaccination rollout, enabling vaccine doses to be safely kept locally and successfully administered.
Since 1976, there have been 14 Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with six occurring since 2018.
