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Four people have died of Ebola in Guinea in the first recurrence of the disease in five years, the health minister said on Saturday.
Remy Lamah said AFP officials were “really worried” about the deaths, the first since a 2013-2016 epidemic – which began in Guinea – left 11,300 dead across the region.
One of Guinea’s latest casualties was a nurse who fell ill in late January and was buried on February 1, the head of the National Agency for Health Security told local media.
“Of those who attended the funeral, eight people showed symptoms: diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding,” he said.
“Three of them died and four others are in hospital.”
The four deaths caused by Ebola hemorrhagic fever occurred in the south-eastern region of Nzerekore, he said.
Keita also told local media that a patient had “escaped”, but was found and hospitalized in the capital Conakry. He confirmed the comments to AFP without providing further details.
The World Health Organization has viewed every new outbreak in 2016 with great concern, treating the latest in the Democratic Republic of Congo as an international health emergency.
DR Congo has faced several outbreaks of disease, with the WHO confirming a resurgence on Thursday three months after authorities declared an end to the country’s latest outbreak.
The country said the six-month epidemic ended in November. It was the eleventh outbreak of Ebola in the country, causing 55 lives out of 130 cases.
The widespread use of vaccines, which have been administered to more than 40,000 people, has helped reduce the disease.
The 2013-2016 outbreak accelerated the development of an Ebola vaccine, with a global emergency stockpile of 500,000 doses planned to respond quickly to future outbreaks, the Gavi vaccine alliance said in January.
(AFP)