|
 A Reuters witness on a visit to Mangina, the village in eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo where the epidemic was declared, saw
health workers in protective suits administering the injections.
So far 43 people are believed to have been infected in North Kivu
and Ituri provinces, including 36 who have died, the health ministry
said on Tuesday.
"We are putting all our energy and all our expertise to quickly
control this epidemic," Health Minister Oly Ilunga told journalists
at the start of the vaccination campaign.
"All the measures of prevention are in place. The vaccination is the
last phase. It will enable us to break the chain of transmission of
this epidemic."
More than 900 contacts of those infected have been identified for
monitoring, although security is an issue in the area where militia
groups operate, WHO said..
The disease, which causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea, is spread
through direct contact with body fluids.
"Around 40 health workers are expected to be vaccinated today; by
end of the week, once all the necessary steps are in place,
vaccination of community contacts and their contacts will commence,"
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said.
WHO has said that analysis of genetic sequencing showed it was a
separate outbreak from the one 2,500 km (1,500 miles) away in the
northwest that ended less than two weeks ago after killing 33 people
-- but the same Zaire strain.
[to top of second column] |
This is Congo's 10th Ebola outbreak since the virus was first
identified near northern Congo's Ebola river.
"There is a huge fear among the local population," Kaswera Mathumo,
a medical worker at a clinic in Mangina, where the vaccinations were
taking place, said.
The experimental vaccine being used, which is manufactured by Merck,
proved successful during its first wide-scale usage against the
previous outbreak in Equateur Province.
More than 3,000 doses remain in stock in the capital Kinshasa,
allowing authorities to deploy them quickly to affected areas.
But they face security challenges in eastern Congo, a region
bubbling with conflicts over land and ethnicity stoked by decades of
on-off war.
Local authorities announced on Tuesday that 14 bodies had been
discovered in the town of Tubameme, about 40 km (25 miles) northeast
of the epicenter of the outbreak in the town of Mangina, suspected
to have been killed by a militia group.
(Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva; Writing by Tim Cocks
and Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
