WHO reports first Ebola recovery in Congo

The World Health Organisation, WHO, on Friday announced the first recovery of a confirmed Ebola patient in the outbreak raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The DRC has said that on Wednesday, a patient recovered and left the hospital and has been discharged into the community,” the WHO’s Anais Legand told reporters.

She said it marked the “first” among patients who had been confirmed to have Ebola but stressed that she expected there had been other recoveries among people who have not yet received laboratory confirmation of test results.

“This is the first one” to be discharged from a care centre “following two negative tests”, she said.

Legand said the WHO had to date recorded 17 confirmed and 223 suspected Ebola deaths in the DR Congo since the outbreak was declared on May 15, out of 125 confirmed cases and over 900 suspected cases.

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The World Health Organisation has declared it a public health emergency and aid is being rushed in amid armed conflict and community resistance.

Scaling up emergency measures including surveillance, contact tracing, clinical preparedness, supply delivery, and community engagement.

No vaccine or specific treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is behind the current outbreak.

The strain can have a case fatality rate of up to 50 percent.

For the known cases in this outbreak, the rate currently appears to be below 25 percent, although that number is evolving.

Legand, a WHO technical officer on viral haemorrhagic fevers, stressed that early access to care can greatly improve survival rates.

“We are expecting more people to recover,” she said.

WHO’s community engagement in the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of Congo focuses on building trust, countering misinformation, and ensuring affected populations cooperate with health measures despite conflict and insecurity.

AFP