GENEVA — The fifth outbreak in two years of the deadly Ebola virus in a remote area of central Africa has so far killed 29 people, the U.N. health agency said Wednesday.
But the outbreak appears to be coming under control, with no one currently sick in northwest Republic of Congo, said Dr. Pierre Formenty, a World Health Organization expert who has just returned from the region.
WHO cannot declare the outbreak formally over until February, and there is still the danger that it could recur because animals in the area are still dying, Formenty said. The current outbreak is believed to have begun when four young hunters ate a wild boar they found dead in the forest.
He said residents of the affected villages of Mbanza and Mbomo are beginning to trust the health workers more. In the past they had refused to give blood for testing, fearing that the health workers were using it for black magic and to spread the disease.
Since 2001 there have been five outbreaks of Ebola in Republic of Congo and neighboring Gabon, resulting in more than 220 deaths.
Ebola, one of the world’s deadliest viral diseases, causes rapid death in up to 90 percent of those infected.
Formenty said WHO and its allies had started a campaign to inform villagers about the dangers of handling the bodies of infected people, but that problems remain.
"The population in this area have been isolated for many years because of the civil war," he said. "People don’t have a lot of educational establishments, and health care centers are not very strongly supported. Even if we produce posters and leaflets, they try to forget what we tell them."
WHO also has trouble persuading people not to eat bush meat, which has been the staple of their diets for centuries.
"They tell us, ‘In the past when our ancestors found a dead body in the forest, it was a present from God. Why are the animals in the forest now full of Ebola?’ " Formenty said.
"We have to explain that times are different and that people also have to adapt. But it isn’t easy to convince everybody."
Copyright ©2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
