Bedst som eksperter troede at udbruddet af sygdommen ebola var ved at lakke mod enden spreder det sig yderligere i Vestafrika. Det kan skyldes, at regionen ikke tidligere har oplevet sygdommen og derfor ikke har værktøjerne til at bekæmpe den.
DAKAR, 11 June 2014 (IRIN): An Ebola outbreak in West Africa that appeared to be winding down has flared up again, with officials blaming the resurgence on ignorance and a lack of experience in handling the virus.
Pierre Formenty, a technical officer at World Health Organization (WHO), who specialises in Ebola, used a recent news conference in Geneva to explain the fresh outbreaks. Pormenty warned that Ebola was turning up in West African countries that had never witnessed Ebola before and did not have established mechanisms for dealing with it.
The view amongst experts in recent weeks had been that the outbreak in West Africa, which likely began in December but was first identified in March, was beginning to slow. There had not been a new confirmed case in Liberia since early April, for instance.
Hopes fade for an early end to outbreak
But that optimism faded in late May. The virus began to spread to new areas of Guinea, where over 200 Ebola-related deaths have now been confirmed. Nine deaths have been reported in Liberia and 12 in Sierra Leone, with health officials warning of the worst problems being concentrated in the eastern region of Kailahun.
The majority of the 430 plus suspected or confirmed cases have been in the forest-covered regions of south-eastern Guinea, where the outbreak was first registered.
The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), previously known as Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever (EHF) Ebola has typically struck at east or central African countries. The most serious outbreaks have been in Uganda, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with South Sudan and Gabon also affected.
According to WHO statistics, between 1976 and 2012, EVD caused around 1,600 deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.
West Africa gets to know Ebola
The one recorded instance of an EVD-like condition occurring in West Africa was in Côte d’Ivoire when a female ethologist was infected while conducting a necropsy on a wild chimpanzee. The ethologist developed Ebola-like symptoms and was evacuated to Switzerland, but recovered.
Formenty said there have probably been other outbreaks of Ebola in West Africa before, but the disease was never identified as such. He says the lack of experience is telling. “I think the fact it’s the first time that this is happening in West Africa works against us because the people don’t really understand how this epidemic can continue for a long time if everyone doesn’t pitch in.”
Deficiencies in response
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