adminConakry — A resurgence of Ebola in a rural Guinean community has killed seven people, health officials said on Wednesday, even as the World Health Organisation voiced confidence that remaining isolated cases could be contained.
The WHO said on Tuesday that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa no longer constituted an international emergency, but the announcement of new cases demonstrated the difficulty of managing the aftermath of the virus. The death of a man, two of his wives and his daughter were announced two weeks ago by the Guinean health authorities, who confirmed on Wednesday a third wife and a mother-in-law also died after becoming infected in the village of Koropara.
Polygamy is commonly practised in Guinea.
“On March 30, there are nine registered cases and seven deaths: three suspected and four confirmed,” said Fode Tass Sylla, spokesman for Guinea’s Ebola response unit.
Outside the family, a man died on March 22 after testing positive for Ebola in the city of Nzerekore.
Two more people — one suspected case and one confirmed — were receiving treatment at a dedicated Ebola facility in southern Guinea, not far from the Liberian border, Sylla said.
The country was declared free of Ebola transmission at the end of last year, though a significant number of deaths are believed to have gone unreported and “flare-ups” relating to the persistence of the virus in survivors’ bodies pose ongoing challenges. — AP
Online Reporter