With seven confirmed cases in the West African country, including three deaths, officials say a new outbreak of Ebola.
Guinea has declared an Ebola epidemic after three people died and four others tested positive for the virus in the south-east of the country.
The seven people fell ill with diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding after attending a funeral in Goueke, near the Liberian border. Infected patients were isolated in treatment centers, the health ministry said on Sunday.
“Faced with this situation and in accordance with international health regulations, the Guinean government is declaring an Ebola epidemic,” the ministry said in a statement.
One of the victims was a nurse who fell ill in late January and was buried on February 1, the head of the National Health Security Agency, Sakoba Keita, told local media.
“Some people who attended the funeral began to have symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, bleeding and fever a few days later,” he said.
Health Minister Remy Lamah said officials were “really concerned” about the deaths, the first since a 2013-2016 epidemic – which began in Guinea – left 11,300 dead in West Africa. The vast majority of cases were in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The fight against Ebola will put further pressure on Guinea’s health services during the coronavirus pandemic. The country of about 12 million has so far recorded 14,895 coronavirus infections and 84 deaths.
The Ebola virus causes severe vomiting and diarrhea and spreads through contact with body fluids. It has a much higher mortality rate than COVID-19, but unlike coronavirus it is not transmitted by asymptomatic carriers.
A second round of tests is being conducted to confirm the latest Ebola diagnosis, and health workers are working to track and isolate case contacts, the ANSS health agency said.
He reported that Guinea would contact the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international health agencies to purchase Ebola vaccines. Vaccines have significantly improved survival rates in recent years.
“WHO is stepping up efforts to prepare for and respond to this potential resurgence of #Ebola in West Africa, a region that suffered so much from Ebola in 2014,” Matshidiso Moeti, the agency’s regional director for Africa, said on Twitter.
“Response efforts”
The WHO has seen each new outbreak in 2016 with great concern, treating a recent one in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as an international health emergency.
On Sunday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on Twitter that the agency had been informed of suspected fatalities in Guinea.
“Confirmatory tests are underway,” the tweet said, adding that WHO regional and country offices “support preparedness and response efforts.”
Meanwhile, in Liberia, President George Weah alerted his country’s health authorities on Sunday.
Weah “mandated the Liberian health authorities and stakeholders in the sector to step up surveillance and prevention activities in the country following reports of the deadly Ebola virus disease in neighboring Guinea,” his office said in a statement.
The DRC’s neighbor 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 DRC, which declared a six-month epidemic in November, confirmed a fourth case in North Kivu province on Sunday.
The widespread use of Ebola vaccines, which have been administered to more than 40,000 people, has helped reduce the disease.
The 2013-2016 spread has accelerated the development of the 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.