Uganda And congo: A Killer Loose

UGANDA & CONGO

A Killer Loose

At Ihandiro primary school in western Uganda, teachers have been stressing a different lesson from reading and math: Wash your hands.

That’s because of a deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in the nearby Democratic Republic of Congo that World Health Organization officials last week declared a “public health emergency of international concern.”

The last time they made such a declaration was during the Ebola outbreak four years ago in West Africa that resulted in more than 11,000 deaths, the Washington Post reported.

Ebola has been spreading for a year in Congo, killing around 1,700 people while around 700 have managed to overcome infections with the deadly virus. But the situation became more serious after a case was confirmed in Goma, a Congolese city of almost 2 million people on the Rwandan border.

“The identification of the case in Goma could potentially be a game-changer in this epidemic,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a United Nations meeting in Geneva. Goma is “a gateway to the region and the world.”

“We are dealing with one of the world’s most dangerous viruses in one of the world’s most dangerous areas,” he added.

The victim was a Goma-based pastor who had traveled to a region where the virus was prevalent. He likely preached in churches and laid his hands on infected congregants, an easy way to transmit the sickness, the Guardian wrote.

In Rwanda, public health agencies have begun vaccinating critical responders and others and asked citizens to refrain from visiting Goma. Three Congolese citizens spread Ebola in neighboring Uganda in June. That country has launched anti-virus measures nationwide.

“Avoid handshaking, hugging, mass gatherings, and observe infection prevention and control practices such as washing hands with soap and clean water at all times both at health facilities and communities,” said a Uganda Health Ministry statement, according to africanews.

But civil strife in Congo has made it hard for local officials to vaccinate people and tend to the sick, opening the way for more infections. President Felix Tshisekedi recently described interethnic fighting in the country as “attempted genocide,” reported Al Jazeera.

But Tshisekedi might be able to solve some of the other issues hampering doctors. “We really have to find ways to stop the interruptions to this response due to insecurity, due to political protests and due to nonpayment of salaries,” David Gressly, the UN’s Ebola response coordinator in the country, told Public Radio International.

The porousness of borders in east-central Africa presents challenges to public health, too. A Congolese fishmonger who recently succumbed to the virus might have carried Ebola to Rwanda and Uganda, Reuters reported. Of course, disrupting such movements isn’t going to help the impoverished people living in the region, either.

It’s a hard challenge that at least has many governments to tackle it. That’s because no one wants to see a repeat of the death toll in West Africa.