Ebola has now killed 82 people in an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Four more people have died since Monday and 11 new cases have been reported since August 28, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports.
In a desperate attempt to contain the outbreak, aid workers have educated nearly 2.5 million people about how to reduce the risk of spreading the lethal virus.
But officials admitted it is becoming hard to track where the infection is being transmitted because the outbreak is near a dangerous conflict zone.
Saturday, September 1, marked a month since the beginning of the outbreak and 122 cases of Ebola have been reported – 91 of those confirmed.
Nearly 70 per cent of people thought to have been infected have died of the disease, but DRC health officials are rolling out experimental drugs to treat patients, and at least two people have recovered following treatment.
The WHO's latest situation report on the outbreak, released yesterday, said 'recent trends suggest control measures are working'.
At least 122 people have been infected with Ebola in the outbreak around the North Kivu region in the north-east of Democratic Republic of the Congo since it was first declared on August 1 – the city of Beni has been the centre of the current outbreak
An Ebola patient is led to be treated by medical workers in Beni: Since the outbreak began some 4,296 people are thought to have come into contact with people who had the virus and 16 medical workers have been infected
The Ebola virus is spreading near the city of Beni in the North Kivu region in the DRC's north-east, near the border with Uganda.
Some 16 health workers have caught the virus and one has died from it.
Since the outbreak began, officials have identified 4,296 people who have been in contact with those who caught the virus. More than half of those people are still being monitored.
And the country's efforts to keep the outbreak from spiralling out of control have been praised as a 'global first and a ray of hope' by the WHO.
UNICEF this week said it has now reached 2,454,000 people with its Ebola prevention messages in the past month.
'An increasing number of communities are now aware about Ebola and how to prevent its transmission,' said Dr Gianfranco Rotigliano, a UNICEF representative.
'The active involvement of concerned communities is key to stopping the spread of the disease.
'We are working closely with them to promote hand-washing and good hygiene practices, and to identify and assist people that might be infected with the virus.'
At-risk populations are being reached through community engagement, radio, door-to-door activities, church meetings and adolescent groups, and prevention messages are shared in four different languages.
Last Friday, the WHO said there are still 'substantial risks' in trying to beat the Ebola outbreak in the east of DRC.
The UN agency said that although efforts to stop the virus spreading are working, it is proving hard to keep track of where the virus is active.
Four of 13 recent cases in the city of Beni were not previously identified as contacts of other patients, meaning officials don't know how they were exposed to Ebola.
An important part of preventing the spread of the virus is monitoring people who have been in contact with others infected with the fever, to make sure they don't develop symptoms and spread the infection.
If people develop the infection without coming into contact with previous patients it could mean the virus is coming from elsewhere.
This makes it harder for health workers to track down and contain all the sources of the fast-spreading disease.
The WHO also reports 'sporadic instances' of high-risk behaviors like unsafe burials, which could worsen the outbreak because Ebola can still be caught from corpses.
Some 82 people have died in the most recent Ebola outbreak taking place in the North Kivu province in the north-east of Democratic Republic of the Congo. Pictured: Health workers carry the body of a suspected victim last Wednesday, August 22, in Mangina, a town near Beni
But there are rays of hope for the troubled African country – two infected patients have recovered after being given an experimental therapeutic drug.
The UN health agency in a statement said most patients recently admitted to Ebola clinics were given experimental treatments and that many contacts of cases have been immunized with a novel vaccine.
More than 3,400 people have been given medicines and experts say the DRC's medical assault on the infection is a 'global first'.
Two of the first 10 people to have been given an experimental cure known as mAb114 made a recovery from the deadly infection.
In a statement the DRC's health ministry confirmed: 'These two people are among the first 10 patients to have received the therapeutic molecule mAb114.'
Developed in the US, mAb114 was the first of five experimental treatments the DRC has begun using in the outbreak.
The health ministry has confirmed four other experimental drugs have been approved for use in the country – ZMapp, Remdesivir, Favipiravir and Regn3450-3471-347.
The World Health Organization said the country's attempts to stop the virus were 'a global first, and a ray of hope for people with the disease.'
The mayor in the city of Beni, Jean Edmond Nyonyi Masumbuko Bwanakawa, has announced treatment for Ebola will be free in the region for three months.
He hopes the move will encourage people to seek immediate medical help and not be put off by a fear of having to pay for healthcare.
An Ebola patient is checked by two medical workers after being admitted into a Biosecure Emergency Care Unit (CUBE) in Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo
The current Ebola outbreak is the 10th to strike the Congo since 1976, when the virus was first identified and named after the Ebola River in the north of the country.
The outbreak was announced just days after another was declared over in the north-west of the Congo at the start of August.
Yet the new outbreak has already dwarfed the one earlier this summer and has stoked more fears among the medical community.
Virologists feared it would be 'reminiscent' of the 2014 Ebola pandemic, which decimated West Africa and killed 11,000 people.
There are also concerns that conflict in the region might make the outbreak hard to control, as the infected could be displaced to refugee camps where the virus can thrive.
Aid workers have been told they will have to navigate their response among more than 100 armed groups.
A WHO spokesperson said: 'This is an active conflict zone. The major barrier will be safely accessing the affected population.'
Link article
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/05/ebola-claims-four-more-lives-as-death-toll-hits-82-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo/
Main photo article Ebola has now killed 82 people in an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Four more people have died since Monday and 11 new cases have been reported since August 28, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports.
In a desperate attempt to contain the outbreak, aid workers have...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Health HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/05/13/4FBAA1EB00000578-6133837-image-a-1_1536151761478.jpg
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