In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the escalating number of Ebola cases has placed a strain on authorities’ability to isolate suspected patients. Amid the crisis, health officials are addressing the challenge of segregating those suspected of having the haemorrhagic fever from the general population at hospitals. Richard Kitenge, an incident manager on the DRC’s national response team, highlighted the urgency of this task: “The first thing we have to do is a triage, remove all suspected cases from the hospital, place them in a temporary intermediate shelter, take samples, and have them analyzed. “.
Despite the establishment of special Ebola treatment centers in the region, they remain largely unused, indicating the struggle to implement effective isolation measures.
The community’s traditional practices, such as burial rituals, are adding complexity to the situation.
A recent incident saw an Ebola treatment center in Rwampara set ablaze by youths following a dispute over retrieving a deceased friend’s body. Kitenge emphasized the heightened risk associated with the deceased: “The bodies of those who have died from the virus are far more dangerous than people who are sick. When there is a death, the internal cells, the cells that die, the virus resurfaces and it remains in the periphery.
This means that everything that touches the body becomes contaminated, inevitably. “.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has deemed the outbreak a “very high “risk nationally, with nearly 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths.
The Bundibugyo virus, a rare strain, has complicated containment efforts, as there is no vaccine or specific treatment for it.
*Additional reporting by ImNews | Sources consulted: 5*
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This original article was produced by the ImNews editorial team
Source: Africanews
Source: Rédaction Africanews
