DRC: end of the 11th Ebola epidemic in Equateur province

The 11th Ebola epidemic in the DRC is over according to the Minister of Health (illustrative image).

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The 11th Ebola epidemic has ended according to the Minister of Health who announced it on Wednesday November 18.

This epidemic would therefore have lasted 5 months, it had been contained in the province of Equateur where it killed 55 people for 130 cases.

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The 10th Ebola outbreak was the deadliest and longest in the country, no doubt due to its politicization with a fatality rate of 66%.

It was

of the country that an 11th was declared in the province of Equateur on June 1, a more landlocked province.

It only took 5 and a half months to stop this latest epidemic against 2 years for the previous one.

The Minister of Health explains these good results by bringing together the community care sites, and by a better medical response, particularly concerning drugs and vaccines.

Management that can still be improved

But this epidemic could have lasted even less time, if there had not been at the same time other epidemics, including Covid-19.

And above all the swelling of the lists of providers who had to support the response, which delayed their payment for verification and led to strikes.

In September,

for some 120 patients, a group of ambassadors had denounced as in the previous epidemic an "Ebola Business".

This region, like Greater Ecuador, is in its fifth epidemic.

And the government, like its partners, fears a new resurgence, especially since bushmeat can be contaminated and it is difficult to regulate its consumption in sometimes very remote areas.

The Minister of Health is considering routine vaccination in the areas most at risk: Greater Equator, Bandundu and the east of the country.

Last year, the WHO (World Health Organization) prequalified a vaccine.

Ervebo, manufactured by the Merck laboratory.

But it has never been used on a large scale to date.

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• DRC

• Ebola

• Health and medicine

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