Ebola expert warns disease will NEVER be eradicated as confirmed cases RISE to 42 in Congo

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Joshua Nevett - The Daily Star




THE LETHAL Ebola virus will never be eradicated, scientists have warned as more suspected cases of the disease have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

At least 19 people have been killed and 42 infected in an escalating outbreak of the deadly disease in the central African nation, DRC’s Ministry of Public Health said on Tuesday.

International health workers are desperately battling to prevent the disease from spreading by quarantining patients and administering 4,000 experimental vaccines.

At least 10 African countries close to DRC, including Kenya, Nigeria and Cameroon, have been put on high alert after health authorities declared the outbreak on May 8.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is planning for the “worst case scenario” to prevent a repeat of the epidemic that ravaged West Africa between 2014 and 2016, killing more than 11,000.

Professor William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said efforts to contain the virus will “take some time to function optimally”.

Nevertheless, because Ebola is transmitted via animals, primarily bats, preventing another outbreak of the disease is impossible, Prof Schaffer said.

The disease, a type of viral hemorrhagic fever, is endemic in DRC, meaning nothing short of a mass extermination of every animal suspected of hosting Ebola would snuff it out.

“The virus is zoonotic,” Prof Schaffner told Daily Star Online. “That is, its reservoir is in bats, so there will continue to be the hazard of new, repeated introductions into the human population.

“So eradication is not in the cards."

Humans who come into close contact with the blood, organs and bodily fluids of animals infected with the disease are at risk.



A swift response by domestic health officials and the WHO can prevent the disease from spreading and limit the number of deaths, Prof Schaffner said.

He added: “Rapid expert response to these introductions will be standard operating procedure for the immediate future.”

All confirmed and suspected patients with Ebola have been moved to treatment centres and efforts to vaccinate the population are under way, the WHO said.

All cases of Ebola have been reported in north-west DRC, including the towns of Bikoro, Iboko and Wangata.

The region of the outbreak is a cause for concern given its proximity to the Congo River and a national border, where masses of people trade and migrate.

This geographical placement makes it more likely the virus could break out into a wider area, raising fears of another epidemic.

Mr Schaffner, a professor of Medicine in the division of infectious diseases, said the region is a “challenging environment” for health officials.

He said: “The control efforts are just now getting started, with equipment and expert personnel arriving to both identify and care for patients as well as to initiate the public health activities to curtail transmission and to stop the spread of the virus.

“This all will, as you can imagine in this challenging environment, take some time to function optimally.”

The disease – most feared for the internal and external bleeding it can cause its victims – has already spread across 60 km (37 miles) in Equateur province.

Officials say the immediate risk is to the provincial capital Mbandaka, with about one million inhabitants.

Congo's neighbours have also been put on high alert in case Ebola crosses a border, especially to Republic of Congo or Central African Republic.

"The WHO is strengthening its presence, positioning a dozen epidemiologists who will be divided on the axes of Mbandaka, Bikoro and Iboko to investigate alerts," its Congo representative Allarangar Yokouide said.

The WHO said on Friday it hopes to deploy an experimental Ebola vaccine to tackle an outbreak.

[deebakes]

too many monkey fuckers i guess