{"id":183563,"date":"2018-09-29T07:17:33","date_gmt":"2018-09-29T11:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=183563"},"modified":"2018-09-29T07:17:33","modified_gmt":"2018-09-29T11:17:33","slug":"risk-ebolas-spread-congo-now-high-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/09\/29\/risk-ebolas-spread-congo-now-high-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Risk of Ebola’s spread from Congo now ‘very high,’ WHO says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Some patients have also left health facilities to seek alternative care.” (File Photo<\/a> by NIAID\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

JOHANNESBURG \u2014 The risk of the deadly Ebola virus spreading from Congo is now “very high” after two confirmed cases were discovered near the Uganda border, the World\u00a0Health\u00a0Organization says.<\/p>\n

The outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever in northeastern Congo is now larger than the previous one in the northwest and more complicated to contain because of a dense, highly mobile population and the threat from rebel groups active in the region.<\/p>\n

A deadly attack in Beni, the heart of Ebola containment efforts, forced work to be suspended for two days earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

That led the WHO’s emergencies chief, Peter Salama, to warn that insecurity, public defiance about vaccinations and politicians fanning fears ahead of elections in December could create a “perfect storm” leading the outbreak to spread.<\/p>\n

As of Friday there were 124 confirmed Ebola cases including 71 deaths. The previous outbreak in Congo’s Equateur province, declared over just a week before the current one was announced, had 54 confirmed cases including 33 deaths.<\/p>\n

This is the first time an Ebola outbreak has occurred in this part of Congo, affecting the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri where more than a million people are said to be displaced by unrest.<\/p>\n

Health\u00a0workers have had to combat various rumours and fears about the disease, which spreads via the body fluids of those infected, including the dead.<\/p>\n

“Some patients have also left\u00a0health\u00a0facilities to seek alternative care,” WHO said in a statement on Thursday. One infected person moved into a “red zone” where security is poor and carrying out Ebola response efforts is “extremely difficult, if not impossible.”<\/p>\n

The virus moved near the Uganda border when a woman who had participated in the burials of Ebola victims refused a vaccination in Beni and then disappeared, local officials have said. She died on Sept. 20 at a hospital in Tshomia, on Lake Albert.<\/p>\n

The second confirmed Ebola case in Tshomia was the woman’s partner, WHO said.<\/p>\n

“While substantial progress has been made, the situation is precarious,” the U.N.\u00a0health\u00a0agency said of overall containment efforts. It continues to recommend against any travel restrictions.<\/p>\n

Uganda has said it is preparing to begin vaccinations as needed. Congo’s\u00a0health\u00a0ministry says more than 12,000 people have been vaccinated so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JOHANNESBURG \u2014 The risk of the deadly Ebola virus spreading from Congo is now “very high” after two confirmed cases …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":164274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}