Unrelated Ebola outbreaks in DRC, Guinea prompt CDC action
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Two unrelated Ebola outbreaks were declared in just over a week in February — one in Guinea, marking the first cases in that country since the 2014-2016 West African epidemic, and the other in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which had been Ebola-free for only a matter of months.
The outbreaks prompted vaccine drives in both countries and spurred the CDC to require that air passengers from the two countries be funneled through particular airports in the United States.
“The outbreaks ... are completely unrelated, but we face similar challenges in both,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MSc, said during a press briefing. “Both outbreaks are occurring in areas that have recent experience with Ebola and are benefiting from that experience in terms of capacity for surveillance, rapid response, contact tracing, community engagement, clinical care and more.”
The outbreaks, however, are occurring in “hard-to-reach, insecure areas with some mistrust of outsiders,” which could complicate the response, Tedros said.
Health authorities in Guinea declared an outbreak in the community of Gouéké in N’Zerekore prefecture. According to WHO, the index case was a nurse from a local health facility who died on Jan. 28. Following what WHO said was an unsafe burial, six attendees of her funeral reported Ebola-like symptoms.
WHO announced on Feb. 23 that a ring vaccination campaign had begun in the area. At the time, there were eight cases, including five deaths.
Guinea was one of three countries at the center of the West African epidemic — the largest Ebola outbreak in history, during which more than 28,000 people were infected and more than 11,300 died.
“It’s a huge concern to see the resurgence of Ebola in Guinea, a country which has already suffered so much from the disease,” WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti, MBBS, MSc, said in a statement. “However, banking on the expertise and experience built during the previous outbreak, health teams in Guinea are on the move to quickly trace the path of the virus and curb further infections.”
The outbreak in the DRC was declared after the wife of a survivor of a previous Ebola outbreak died from the disease nearly 8 months after that outbreak — the second largest in history — was declared over. WHO said her death raised concerns about a resurgence of the virus, noting that the woman’s burial also was not done using safe burial practices.
According to WHO, the DRC health ministry reported the new case in Butembo, a city in North Kivu, the eastern province where the 2018-2020 outbreak took place, ultimately infecting 3,481 and leaving 2,299 dead. The woman sought medical attention for Ebola-like symptoms and later died. Testing was still underway to determine if the case represented a resurgence of the 2018-2020 outbreak, and WHO said that a vaccination campaign had begun.
In the U.S., the CDC began requiring airlines to collect and report contact information for all travelers who had been in the DRC or Guinea within 21 days of their arrival. The CDC said the information will be shared with state and local health departments so they can “appropriately monitor arrivals in their jurisdiction.”
The CDC also announced that travelers from the two countries would be redirected to six U.S. airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Newark, New York and Washington, D.C. According to the CDC, more than 96% of travelers from these countries already arrive at these locations.
- References:
- CDC. CDC to require airlines to collect contact information from passengers from DRC and Guinea. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0302-airlines-require-information-collection.html. Accessed March 3, 2021.
- CDC. USG to initiate public health measures to respond to Ebola in Guinea and DRC. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s0226-drc-ebola.html. Accessed March 3, 2021.
- WHO. Ebola vaccination starts in Guinea to curb new outbreak. https://www.afro.who.int/news/ebola-vaccination-starts-guinea-curb-new-outbreak. Accessed March 3, 2021.
- WHO. Ebola virus disease – Democratic Republic of the Congo. https://www.who.int/csr/don/10-february-2021-ebola-drc/en/. Accessed March 3, 2021.
- WHO. Ebola virus disease – Guinea. https://www.who.int/csr/don/17-february-2021-ebola-gin/en/. Accessed March 3, 2021.
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