Science

#Guinea Ebola death toll rises to four

#Guinea Ebola death toll rises to four

ebola
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A fourth Guinean Ebola patient died on Monday, the health agency said, as the government and aid groups began to roll out their response to the outbreak.

Guinea announced the outbreak on Saturday—the first in West Africa since a 2013-2016 epidemic that left more than 11,300 dead in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

There was initial confusion over the number of fatalities, but the deputy director-general of Guinea’s health agency, Bouna Yattassaye, told AFP that four people had now died.

“We recorded one death this morning,” he said.

The first confirmed victim was a 51-year-old nurse, who died in late January.

She was from Nzerekore near the town of Gouecke in the forested south of the country.

Two of the nurse’s brothers who attended her funeral on February 1 have also died, according to a health official who requested anonymity.

Yattassaye said the fourth person to die was an elderly woman but gave no further details.

The UN’s Guinea office tweeted that the first flight carrying experts and sanitary equipment arrived in Nzerekore on Monday.

Prime Minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana said Guinea had “set up structures to deal with this type of epidemic”.

“No panic, let’s respect the sanitary instructions. Ebola will be defeated again,” he tweeted.

Vaccines on the way

Ebola causes severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding. It is transmitted through close contact with bodily fluids, and people who live with or care for patients are most at risk.

An NGO official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said he was concerned because health workers had not yet identified who infected the nurse.

But Alfred George Ki-Zerbo, the World Health Organization’s representative in Guinea, said on Monday that Ebola vaccines could arrive in the poor nation of 13 million “within 72 hours”.

“Our priority is to complete the risk assessment on the ground and to analyse the cross-border dimension,” he said, referring to the area near the Liberian border where the virus re-emerged.

Guinea’s health agency is also increasing its capacity in the area.

Anja Wolz, the Ebola coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said the NGO was sending an experienced medical team to meet local people and explain the need to follow health rules.

“We know that when such a frightening disease is misunderstood in the community, and individuals suddenly arrive giving instructions, in costumes resembling spacesuits, it can easily generate a hostile reaction,” she said.


Growing concern over first W.Africa Ebola outbreak for five years


© 2021 AFP

Citation:
Guinea Ebola death toll rises to four (2021, February 15)
retrieved 15 February 2021
from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-02-guinea-ebola-death-toll.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on Google News too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com

If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our Science category.

Source

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button
Close

Please allow ads on our site

Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker!