Ebola Virus Disease

Physician and medical anthropologist at the Graduate Institute Geneva and advisor to the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders Dr. Vinh-Kim Nguyen spoke to students as part of the  Medicine and its Objects  seminar series on Monday.  Nguyen’s seminar began by describing how war is thought to cause epidemics—the destruction of healthcare, sanitation, clean water sources, and agriculture in war-afflicted areas causes poor hygiene, mass movement of refugees, and outbreaks such as cholera. However, Nguyen’s observation of American military hospitals in Syria and Lebanon led him to discover a different causal path linking war and health epidemics.  “We have two events: the American invasion of Iraq and the global rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and I want to argue that they are linked,” Dr. Nguyen said. The lack of available healthcare due to the war in the Middle East may be the cause of a global bacterial epidemic. In resource-poor and overwhe...

The current Ebola outbreak in  Democratic Republic of Congo  (DRC) is the worst on record in the country and the second-largest epidemic of the disease recorded anywhere. Almost a year after the declaration of  the outbreak , more than 2,195 people have died from the virus. The Ebola crisis in DRC continues to pose a threat to local communities—despite a massive international response,  promising new vaccines  and  treatments , and improvements in the medical management of the disease. On July 17, 2019, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in DRC a public health emergency of international concern. Ebola is not the only public health emergency in DRC. The main causes of mortality in the country’s eastern region remain preventable diseases such as  malaria  and  measles . In many health zones, only limited health care is available, as was the case even before the Ebola epidemic. Many health workers have also now been r...

CIDRAP News : More violence continues to stall Ebola response in DRC hot spots “The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) [Monday] said Ebola response operations in two hot spots remain paralyzed for the sixth day in a row, which could prolong the outbreak, amid a report of an attack on a United Nation peacekeeping office in Beni. In other developments, 4 new cases were reported over the weekend and through [Monday], raising the outbreak total past 3,300 to 3,303…” (Schnirring, 11/25). Reuters : WHO, UNICEF evacuate 76 staff from Ebola teams in Congo due to insecurity “The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday evacuated dozens of their staff working on the Ebola epidemic from the town of Beni in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to the worsening security situation. Rebels believed to belong to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed eight people in an overnight raid on Sunday…” (Nebehay/Depetris, 11/26). Additional coverage of ...

GENEVA — The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday evacuated dozens of their staff working on the Ebola epidemic from the town of Beni in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to the worsening security situation. Rebels believed to belong to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed eight people in an overnight raid on Sunday. Residents angry at the perceived inaction of both the government and a U.N. peacekeeping mission then set fire to the mayor's office and several U.N. buildings on Monday. At least two people were killed in clashes with police. [L8N2853CZ] WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a news briefing in Geneva that 49 non-essential staff were flown on Tuesday morning to the eastern city of Goma, where they will continue working, "Seventy-one remain on the spot at this point to ensure as good as possible or at least the minimum support to the Ebola response," Lindmeier said. "The frustration, th...

A Direct Relief shipment designed to fight the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has reached its destination. The shipment, which contains masks, coveralls, tents, and other personal protective equipment (often abbreviated as PPE), has been delivered to an Ebola response center in Goma, in the province of North Kivu. “The ability to safely treat folks with Ebola…requires access to PPE. That’s a vital way to prevent its spread and to protect healthcare workers and patients,” said Dr. Myron Glick, the founder and CEO of Jericho Road, an international aid organization and Direct Relief partner that received the shipment. North Kivu is the epicenter of an Ebola outbreak that began in August of 2018 and has claimed nearly 2,200 lives. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak an international public health emergency in July of 2019. Response to the crisis has been complicated by a deep distrust of Ebola response efforts among many in the nation. That distrust...

There has been a rapid increase in the global measles outbreak, with reported cases jumping 300 percen t in the first three months of 2019 compared with the same period last year, according to the World Health Organization. As reasons for the increase, the organization has cited a deep mistrust of vaccines, gaps in immunization coverage and lack of access to health care facilities or routine checkups. This month, the W.H.O. sounded the alarm over the diseases’s grip on the Democratic Republic of Congo, where nearly 5,000 people with measles died in the first 10 months of this year. The highly contagious disease is caused by a virus and typically begins with a high fever and rash that can lead to complications of deafness, pneumonia, diarrhea and encephalitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And though measles has become largely preventable through vaccines administered during childhood, the W.H.O. estimated that 110,000 people, most of them children ...

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 cases also now appearing in South Kivu. With the number of cases having surpassed 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 doubled, with a further 1,000 new cases reported in just those 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; since August, this rate has been slowly declining, with just 70 cases identified throughout all of October. Latest figures...

Angry residents of the eastern Congo city of Beni burned the town hall and stormed the United Nations peacekeeping mission Monday after rebels killed eight people and kidnapped nine overnight in their latest assault. Gunfire could be heard as police and peacekeepers tried to disperse crowds who attacked the U.N. base and burned U.N. vehicles. Residents have protested outside the U.N. for several days over repeated attacks by Allied Democratic Forces rebels, and two civilians and two policemen have died in the unrest. Civil society leader Kizito Bin Hangi said they warned the Congolese army when they saw suspicious activity in the center of town Sunday but soldiers came too late. One protester, Kasereka Fundi, suggested the U.N. mission known as MONUSCO should leave if it won't protect the population. "What did we do to deserve that, do we not have the same rights as other citizens of Congo?" Fundi said. "We are killed while MONUSCO is here to protect us. Let the...

CIDRAP News : WHO official highlights Ebola security challenges: ‘We are so close’ “[Friday] Mike Ryan, MD, the World Health Organization (WHO) executive director of health emergencies, spotlighted recent violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its impact on the Ebola outbreak response and issued a dire warning. ‘We just want to express how alarmed we are that a lack of access and security is now preventing us from ending the outbreak,’ Ryan said. ‘At this stage of the outbreak, one case matters, one case can reignite the outbreak, and means the virus can get ahead of us again’…” (Soucheray, 11/22). The Guardian : Children bear the brunt as the world’s biggest measles epidemic sweeps Congo “More than 5,000 people, mostly children, have been killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in what is currently the world’s biggest measles epidemic. Measles, which is preventable through vaccination, has spread to all 26 provinces of the country, which is also battlin...

BENI, Congo — Angry residents of the eastern Congo city of Beni burned the town hall and stormed the United Nations peacekeeping mission Monday after rebels killed eight people and kidnapped nine overnight in their latest assault. Gunfire could be heard as police and peacekeepers tried to disperse crowds who attacked the U.N. base and burned U.N. vehicles. Residents have protested outside the U.N. for several days over repeated attacks by Allied Democratic Forces rebels, and two civilians and two policemen have died in the unrest. Civil society leader Kizito Bin Hangi said they warned the Congolese army when they saw suspicious activity in the center of town Sunday but soldiers came too late. One protester, Kasereka Fundi, suggested the U.N. mission known as MONUSCO should leave if it won't protect the population. "What did we do to deserve that, do we not have the same rights as other citizens of Congo?" Fundi said. "We are killed while MONUSCO is here to prote...

The World Health Organization warns escalating violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu and Ituri provinces is threatening to reverse major gains made in bringing the region's Ebola epidemic to an end. The agency reports 3,298 cases of Ebola, including 2195 deaths, resulting in an overall fatality rate of 67%. Health officials are pleased with the progress that has been made in tackling the Ebola outbreak in recent weeks.  Last week, the World Health Organization recorded only seven cases of this deadly disease, an all-time low. Unfortunately, the agency says an uptick in violence between the national army, FARDC, and the rebel Allied Democratic Forces is threatening these gains. Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies program Mike Ryan says the prevailing lack of access and lack of security is a major obstacle to international efforts to prevent the Ebola virus from spreading. "We believe we have the resources on the ground from a public he...

The opportunity to quickly end the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo could be lost due to violence in the country's east, the United Nations said on Friday. DRC's President Felix Tshisekedi said earlier this month that the end of the year was a realistic target to stamp out an epidemic that has killed more than 2,000 people since it began in August 2018. "We're so close to finishing," the World Health Organization's emergency response chief, Mike Ryan, told reporters. Doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfun is getting inoculated with an Ebola  vaccine. But Ryan said he was "alarmed...that the lack of access and a lack of security is now preventing us ending this outbreak." "If we lose this opportunity, we're going to be dealing with that reality for months to come," he said. The affected eastern DRC provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, suffer from chronic insecurity, with various militia groups operating in...

GENEVA - The World Health Organization warns escalating violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu and Ituri provinces is threatening to reverse major gains made in bringing the region’s Ebola epidemic to an end.   The agency reports 3,298 cases of Ebola, including 2195 deaths, resulting in an overall fatality rate of 67%. Health officials are pleased with the progress that has been made in tackling the Ebola outbreak in recent weeks.  Last week, the World Health Organization recorded only seven cases of this deadly disease, an all-time low. Unfortunately, the agency says an uptick in violence between the national army, FARDC, and the rebel Allied Democratic Forces is threatening these gains.   Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies program Mike Ryan says the prevailing lack of access and lack of security is a major obstacle to international efforts to prevent the Ebola virus from spreading.       “We believe we have...

Since the outbreak of the tenth Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in August 2018, France and the DRC have sought to work together to eradicate the virus. With the epidemic still under way, France and the DRC wish to step up their joint efforts. That is why a French-Congolese roadmap to fight the Ebola epidemic was developed jointly by Professor Yves Lévy, France’s special envoy in charge of directing and monitoring the French response in the fight against the Ebola epidemic, and Professor Muyembe, coordinator of the Ebola response in the DRC President’s Office. President Macron and his Congolese counterpart, President Félix Tshisekedi, expressed their support for this roadmap during the latter’s visit to Paris on November 12. This roadmap aims to mobilize the efforts of French and Congolese actors in support of the “strategic response plan” established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Congolese authorities. It contains three courses of action: ...

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday warned of "a very dangerous and alarming development" in efforts to end the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, warning that the eruption of violence may re-ignite the epidemic. Mike Ryan, who directs the UN health agency's Ebola response, said there were only seven new cases last week. But he told reporters the near doubling of "security incidents" is jeopardizing attempts to end the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history. Officials have made progress in recent months but "if security deteriorates in the region, we could work our way to a very bad situation," he said. Multiple rebel groups are active in the region. More than 3,100 cases have been confirmed in this outbreak including more than 2,100 deaths. Ryan also said WHO understands all the chains of Ebola transmission in this outbreak except one, a high-risk death of a motorbike driver who went to three health centres before being identified as a po...

A Direct Relief shipment of personal protective equipment will aid Goma's Ebola treatment center. By Talya Meyers A Direct Relief shipment designed to fight the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has reached its destination. The shipment, which contains masks, coveralls, tents, and other personal protective equipment (often abbreviated as PPE), has been delivered to an Ebola response center in Goma, in the province of North Kivu. “The ability to safely treat folks with Ebola…requires access to PPE. That’s a vital way to prevent its spread and to protect healthcare workers and patients,” said Dr. Myron Glick, the founder and CEO of Jericho Road, an international aid organization and Direct Relief partner that received the shipment. North Kivu is the epicenter of an Ebola outbreak that began in August of 2018 and has claimed nearly 2,200 lives. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak an international public health emergency in July of 2019. Response...

CIDRAP News : Ebola continues decline, but mobile patients still pose a risk “A steady decline in the number of Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) outbreak continued last week, with just nine new cases reported from three health zones, but a new illness was reported from Oicha, which recently passed 30 days with no new cases, according to the latest update from the World Health Organization (WHO). In other developments, the DRC reported 2 more cases, lifting the outbreak total to 3,298, according to the WHO’s online Ebola dashboard …” (Schnirring, 11/20). The Telegraph : Congolese doctor honored for game-changing ‘Ebola Cube’ “…Dr. Richard Kojan, an intensive care specialist for French non-governmental organization Alima, was recognized with an innovation award during the Reaching the Last Mile forum in Abu Dhabi. He came up with the concept of the Cube — a biosecure emergency treatment unit — after his experiences responding to the Ebola epidemic in West Afr...

A Congolese doctor who came up with the concept for a “game-changing” portable Ebola treatment unit has been honoured for his work. Dr Richard Kojan, an intensive care specialist for French non-governmental organisation Alima, was recognised with an innovation award during the Reaching the Last Mile forum in Abu Dhabi. He came up with the concept of the Cube – a biosecure emergency treatment unit – after his experiences responding to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014-15, which killed more than 11,000 people.  Because of the incredibly high risk of picking up the disease from patients, doctors and nurses working in traditional Ebola treatment units have to wear personal protective equipment which is heavy, hot and cumbersome. They are limited to wearing it for just 30 minutes, so can spend only short periods of time with patients. During the current outbreak of the highly contagious infectious disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo , 163 health worke...

The current Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the worst on record in the country and the second-largest epidemic of the disease recorded anywhere. Almost a year after the declaration of the outbreak, more than 2,180 people have died from the virus. The Ebola crisis in DRC continues to pose a threat to local communities--despite a massive international response, promising new vaccines and treatments, and improvements in the medical management of the disease. On July 17, 2019, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in DRC a public health emergency of international concern. Ebola is not the only public health emergency in DRC. The main causes of mortality in the country's eastern region remain preventable diseases such as malaria and measles. In many health zones, only limited health care is available, as was the case even before the Ebola epidemic. Many health workers have also now been recruited away from hospitals and health centers acro...

Here’s some background information about Ebola , a virus with a high fatality rate that was first identified in Africa in 1976. Facts Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a disease caused by one of five different Ebola viruses. Four of the strains can cause severe illness in humans and animals. The fifth, Reston virus, has caused illness in some animals, but not in humans. The first human outbreaks occurred in 1976, one in northern Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo ) in central Africa: and the other, in southern Sudan (now South Sudan) . The virus is named after the Ebola River, where the virus was first recognized in 1976, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Ebola is extremely infectious but not extremely contagious. It is infectious, because an infinitesimally small amount can cause illness. Laboratory experiments on nonhuman primates suggest that even a single virus may be enough to trigger a fatal infection. Ebola is considered moderately conta...