Congo declares end of ebola outbreak

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Monday

declared the end of the Ebola outbreak in Kasai Province, 42 days

since the last patient was discharged from a treatment centre, ending

The 16th time epidemic has hammered the country.

Dr Samuel Roger Kamba, Minister for Public Health, Hygiene, and Social

Welfare in the DRC said scientific data had shown that there had been

no new infections from the epicentre, which usually confirms the end

of an outbreak.

“On behalf of the government, and taking into account all the

scientific and operational indicators confirming that the chain of

transmission of the virus has been broken — I hereby officially

declare the end of the 16th Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic

of the Congo,” he said in a statement.

On September 4, Kinshasa had declared a new outbreak in Kasai, the

third time in the province, with previous cases experienced in 2007

and 2008. Some 64 cases (53 confirmed, 11 probable) and 45

deaths were recorded in the outbreak. The DRC has seen cycles of

Ebola outbreaks have occurred since 1976 when the virus was first reported.

After over two months, authorities say they collaborated with the

World Health Organisation (WHO) and other partners to halt the spread

of the virus in the Bulape Health Zone, a rural community in Kasai in

the central region.

A total of 112 WHO experts and frontline responders were deployed

to support the national authorities in the response, and

over 150 tonnes of medical supplies and equipment were delivered to

protect health workers and communities.

“Controlling and ending this Ebola outbreak in three months is a

remarkable achievement. National authorities, frontline health

workers, partners and communities acted with speed and unity in one

of the country’s hard-to-reach localities,” said Dr

Mohamed Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa, in a statement on

Monday.

“WHO is proud to have supported the response and to leave behind

stronger systems, from clean water to safer care, that will protect

communities long after the outbreak has ended.”

Ebola is a severe and often fatal illness in humans. Human-to-human

transmission is through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a

person who is sick with or has died from Ebola, or objects and

surfaces contaminated with body fluids from a person sick with Ebola

or the body of a person who died from Ebola, according to a descriptor

from the WHO.

WHO said the DRC will now begin a 90-day period of enhanced disease

surveillance and post-recovery support for Ebola survivors.