Ebola Virus Disease

KINSHASA, 30 August 2019  – “Almost 600 children have now lost their lives to the Ebola outbreak in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) out of almost 850 who have caught the deadly virus since the epidemic started in August 2018. The news that the total number of deaths has now passed 2,000, out of more than 3,000 cases, should act as a rallying cry for us all to step up our efforts to defeat this terrible disease and end this outbreak. “As the numbers continue to grow, it is vital to remember that each one of these cases is somebody’s child, a son or daughter; a mother, father, brother or sister. And each of these deaths leaves a family not only in mourning but also scared and worried about their own exposure to the disease. “That is why supporting, engaging and raising awareness among the affected communities are key in ending this outbreak. The recent breakthrough in finding a successful treatment for this disease, and the continued effectiveness...

“The news that the total number of deaths has now passed 2,000, out of more than 3,000 cases, should act as a rallying cry for us all to step up our efforts to defeat this terrible disease and end this outbreak,” the Agency’s statement said. “As the numbers continue to grow, it is vital to remember that each one of these cases is somebody’s child, a son or daughter; a mother, father brother or sister,” the announcement read. “Each of these deaths leaves a family not only in mourning but also scared and worried about their own exposure to the disease.” UNICEF noted recent breakthroughs in finding successful treatments highlight that “for the first time, we now have the means to both prevent and treat Ebola.” Recent media reports show the disease is no longer incurable, with scientific advancements promising to tame outbreaks and boost survival rates. Almost 600 children have died in the DR Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak. As numbers continue to grow, we’re working with partners...

Uganda has had a second incursion of Ebola from the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), two and a half months after three cases were imported in June. Ugandan officials confirmed Ebola in a 9-year-old DRC girl who crossed from the DRC with her mother yesterday, Uganda's Ministry of Health said in a news release today. The news comes as Ebola cases in the DRC top 3,000 and deaths exceed 2,000. Quick identification of symptoms The mother and daughter crossed into Uganda through the Mpondwe border post in Kasese District, the same district that reported the three earlier cases. A point-of-entry screening team recognized the girl's high fever, body weakness, rash, and unexplained bleeding from her mouth and isolated her. The girl has been transferred to Bwera Hospital's Ebola treatment unit (ETU), located in Kasese near the DRC-Uganda border. The earlier patients were also treated in that ETU. Testing by the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe on blo...

The death toll from the year-long Ebola outbreak in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC ) has topped 2,000, according to government data released on Friday, which also showed the number of confirmed cases had surpassed 3,000. The outbreak, which was officially declared in August of last year, is the second deadliest on record behind the 2013-2016 epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,300 people.  Uganda , meanwhile, reported another fatal case of Ebola after a nine-year-old girl who crossed the border from neighbouring DRC and tested positive for the disease died on Thursday evening. The child - who was being held in isolation at a hospital in the Ugandan border district of Kasese - travelled from the DRC with her mother on Wednesday, Uganda's health ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The girl, of Congolese origin, was identified by a screening team at Mpondwe border post as she tried to cross to Uganda. She exhibited symptoms including ...

Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Since the Ebola epidemic outbreak in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a year ago, almost 600 of around 850 children who have caught the virus have died, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Friday. "The news that the total number of deaths has now passed 2,000, out of more than 3,000 cases, should act as a rallying cry for us all to step up our efforts to defeat this terrible disease and end this outbreak," UNICEF said in a statement. The agency noted recent breakthroughs in finding successful treatments, highlighting that "for the first time, we now have the means to both prevent and treat Ebola." Medical advances, however, "mean little" if infection goes undetected, or "if individuals are too scared to seek treatment," it added. The current Ebola epidemic, categorized by the World Health Organization as International Public Health Emergency in July, h...

The second-largest, second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history has exceeded 3,000 cases and 2,000 deaths as the yearlong epidemic continues despite access to an experimental vaccine and developmental treatments . A total of 3,004 people have reported symptoms of hemorrhagic fever in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo since Aug. 1 of last year, according to Congolese health officials, and 2,899 of those individuals have tested positive for Ebola virus disease , which is transmitted through contact with blood or secretions from an infected person and causes an often-fatal type of hemorrhagic fever. There have been 2,006 deaths so far, including 1,901 people who died from confirmed cases of Ebola. The other deaths are considered probable cases. Just over 900 people sickened with the virus have recovered, according to Congolese health officials. The grim milestone comes a month after the World Health Organization (WHO), the global health arm of the United Nations, declared th...

Summary Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared their tenth outbreak of Ebola in 40 years on 1 August 2018. The outbreak is centred in the northeast of the country, in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. With the number of cases nearing 3,000, it is now by far the country's largest-ever Ebola outbreak. It is also the second-biggest Ebola epidemic ever recorded, behind the West Africa outbreak of 2014-2016. During the first eight months of the epidemic, until March 2019, more than 1,000 cases of Ebola were reported in the affected region. However, between April and June 2019, this number has doubled, with a further 1,000 new cases reported in just these three months. Between early June and the beginning of August, the number of new cases notified per week was high, and averaged between 75 and 100 each week; in recent weeks, this has decreased slightly, but the number of new cases are still averaging around 70-75 per week. Latest figures - information as of 27 August 2019; figure...

The death toll from the year-long Ebola outbreak in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC ) has topped 2,000, according to government data released on Friday, which also showed the number of confirmed cases had surpassed 3,000. The outbreak, which was officially declared in August of last year, is the second deadliest on record behind the 2013-2016 epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,300 people.  Uganda , meanwhile, reported another fatal case of Ebola after a nine-year-old girl who crossed the border from neighbouring DRC and tested positive for the disease died on Thursday evening. The child - who was being held in isolation at a hospital in the Ugandan border district of Kasese - travelled from the DRC with her mother on Wednesday, Uganda's health ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The girl, of Congolese origin, was identified by a screening team at Mpondwe border post as she tried to cross to Uganda. She exhibited symptoms including ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Ebola kills 9-year-old girl as outbreak records 3,000 cases    CNN World's 2nd-largest Ebola outbreak surpasses 3,000 cases    ABC News Ebola Outbreak in Congo Hits Milestone, and Death Toll Rises    The New York Times Ebola virus kills girl from Congo who crossed border into Uganda as outbreak death toll nears 3000 today    CBS News An Ebola Success Story Amid Congo's Ongoing Emergency : Goats and Soda    NPR View full coverage on Google News https://ift.tt/2Hwe3tK

GENEVA - The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo has reached another grim milestone, the World Health Organization says. More than one year after the epidemic was declared, the WHO confirmed 3,004 cases, including 2,006 deaths.  That is the second worst Ebola outbreak after the 2014 West African epidemic, which infected more than 28,000 people and killed more than 11,000. Most Ebola cases in the current epidemic are in the Democratic Republic of Congo's conflict-ridden North Kivu province. WHO says Ebola transmission has been substantial, but somewhat less intense for the past 10 weeks. On average, it says 80 people a week are being sickened by the virus. Unlike previous outbreaks, health workers have new tools to help them tackle the deadly disease. WHO says more than 200,000 people in the DRC and in four neighboring countries have been vaccinated against Ebola, and two therapeutic treatments are saving the lives of people who seek early treatment. More than 8...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] The Massive Effort To Halt Ebola In Congo    NPR When Ebola spread to the eastern city of Goma in July, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak an international crisis. We look at what is being ... https://ift.tt/2ZBk6DD

The second-largest, second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history has exceeded 3,000 cases, as the yearlong epidemic continues to grow despite access to an experimental vaccine and developmental treatments . A total of 3,004 people have reported symptoms of hemorrhagic fever in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo since Aug. 1 of last year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service. More than 2,000 of those individuals have died from the disease, which is transmitted through contact with blood or secretions from an infected person and causes an often-fatal type of hemorrhagic fever. The grim milestone comes a month after the WHO declared the outbreak an international emergency . "Security issues in the affected areas make this the most challenging Ebola outbreak in history, but the U.S. government and our local and international partners remain undeterred and will not rest until the outbreak is ended," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement Th...

Summary Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared their tenth outbreak of Ebola in 40 years on 1 August 2018. The outbreak is centred in the northeast of the country, in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. With the number of cases nearing 3,000, it is now by far the country's largest-ever Ebola outbreak. It is also the second-biggest Ebola epidemic ever recorded, behind the West Africa outbreak of 2014-2016. During the first eight months of the epidemic, until March 2019, more than 1,000 cases of Ebola were reported in the affected region. However, between April and June 2019, this number has doubled, with a further 1,000 new cases reported in just these three months. Between early June and the beginning of August, the number of new cases notified per week was high, and averaged between 75 and 100 each week; in recent weeks, this has decreased slightly, but the number of new cases are still averaging around 70-75 per week. Latest figures - information as of 27 August 2019; figure...

People in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 's Goma city are warning that Ebola may spread because people are having difficulty finding clean water. The first cases of the virus, which is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, were confirmed in the packed city near the border with Rwanda last month. Al Jazeera's Alexi O'Brien reports. https://ift.tt/2zvAV8d

Summary Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared their tenth outbreak of Ebola in 40 years on 1 August 2018. The outbreak is centred in the northeast of the country, in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. With the number of cases nearing 3,000, it is now by far the country's largest-ever Ebola outbreak. It is also the second-biggest Ebola epidemic ever recorded, behind the West Africa outbreak of 2014-2016. During the first eight months of the epidemic, until March 2019, more than 1,000 cases of Ebola were reported in the affected region. However, between April and June 2019, this number has doubled, with a further 1,000 new cases reported in just these three months. Between early June and the beginning of August, the number of new cases notified per week was high, and averaged between 75 and 100 each week; in recent weeks, this has decreased slightly, but the number of new cases are still averaging around 70-75 per week. Latest figures - information as of 27 August 2019; figure...

A fifth Ebola case has been confirmed in South Kivu province, an area of recent spread, and health officials reported 14 new cases today, putting the overall Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) outbreak just shy of 3,000 cases. In other developments, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) today pushed for two new steps to tackle the outbreak: integrating Ebola care into local health systems and expanding the use of the VSV-EBOV vaccine. And experts advocated for more research on Ebola and breastfeeding, given a lack of clarity that affects recommendations and the risk to babies. South Kivu cluster expands to 5 cases In an update today detailing six cases first announced yesterday, the DRC's multisector Ebola response committee (CMRE) said one was in South Kivu province, but there were no details available about the patient. A media report from the DRC said the patient is a 30-year-old man from the affected Mwenga area whose nephew, presumably one of the earlier South Kivu cases, died...

Sierra Leone: Health workers prepare to enter an area where Ebola patients get treatment.  Flickr image by EC/ECHO/Cyprien Fabre, August 2, 2014. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) On August 12, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a positive development in the clinical trials of drugs being tested for the treatment of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR of Congo). WHO asserted that the Ebola drugs showed “advances that will bring patients a better chance of survival,” and further affirmed that “two out of the four drugs being tested are more effective in treating Ebola.” Who is the man behind the Ebola cure? Esteemed professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, director-general of the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) DR of Congo, who invested a substantial part of his adult life treating the virus. While the international media has often focused heavily on the deadly, contagious nature of Ebola in DR of Congo, less has been said about the Congolese scientist w...

Ebola response  MSF currently has 10 Ebola projects and is providing care for confirmed Ebola patients in the three affected provinces, including an Ebola treatment center (ETC) we are currently managing in Bunia, Ituri province, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and a new 50-bed ETC in Nyiragongo health zone of Goma, North Kivu province. MSF is also currently constructing an ETC in the Mwenga area of South Kivu. Earlier this year, we withdrew from our ETCs in the North Kivu cities of Butembo and Katwa following separate attacks on the facilities. We are also helping existing health care facilities in the affected provinces prepare for and receive people who may have Ebola, managing transit centers where patients with suspected Ebola are tested and sent to ETCs if they test positive, and working to implement and strengthen disease surveillance and infection prevention and control activities in the region. For example, MSF has been present in Goma for Ebola preparednes...