Last Ebola patients discharged in DRC, Guinea, starting countdown to end of outbreaks
The last patients from the ongoing Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea were discharged from care this week, initiating the countdown to declaring the outbreaks over, WHO said.
According to WHO, the last Ebola patient from the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was discharged from a treatment center in Katwa, North Kivu province, on Monday — 37 days after a resurgence of the disease was identified in the region.
WHO said the last patient in Guinea was discharged Tuesday night in the city of N’Zérékoré, 38 days after the start of that outbreak, which has been genetically linked to the West African epidemic that ended in 2016.
For an Ebola outbreak to be declared over, there must not be any new cases for 42 days — the length of two incubation periods.
During the outbreak in the DRC, 12 people have been infected and six have died. Early on, officials announced that the outbreak began when the wife of a previous outbreak survivor sought medical attention for Ebola-like symptoms nearly 8 months since the outbreak had been declared over. She later died. According to WHO, more than 1,700 people were vaccinated in the outbreak to mitigate further spread.
The Guinea outbreak the first in the country since the West African epidemic that left more than 28,000 people infected and 11,300 dead has resulted in 18 cases and nine deaths. More than 3,900 people have been vaccinated during the outbreak, according to WHO.
WHO said teams will remain on the ground to support local health authorities with surveillance, pathogen detection and community engagement through the 42-day countdown.