Ebola outbreak in six African countries

The World Health Organization has asked six African countries to be alert for possible Ebola infections, as Guinea on Tuesday reported new cases and Democratic Republic of Congo said its new infections were a resurgence of a previous outbreak.

Guinea declared an outbreak of the virus on Sunday in the first return of the disease there since the 2013-2016 outbreak, while Congo has confirmed four new cases this month.

Health authorities have rushed to respond to the cases in Guinea, anxious to prevent a repeat of the last outbreak in West Africa, which killed more than 11,300 people, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia in the worst Ebola epidemic on record.

"We have already alerted the six countries around, including of course Sierra Leone and Liberia, and they are moving very fast to prepare and be ready and to look for any potential infection," the WHO's Margaret Harris told a Geneva briefing on Tuesday.

What is Ebola?

Ebola is a virus that initially causes sudden fever, intense weakness, muscle pain and a sore throat. It progresses to vomiting, diarrhoea, and both internal and external bleeding. People are infected when they have direct contact through broken skin, or the mouth and nose, with the blood, vomit, faeces or bodily fluids of someone with Ebola. Patients tend to die from dehydration and multiple organ failure

Guinea’s neighbors include Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Guinea has so far recorded up to 10 suspected cases of Ebola and five deaths. Since declaring the outbreak on Sunday, it has identified 115 contacts of the known cases in the southeastern city of Nzerekore and 10 in the capital Conakry, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Guinea is where the original outbreak unleashed the worst epidemic of that disease in West Africa at the end of 2013 history, with at least 11,300 dead.

“Very concerned by the reports of 4 suspected Ebola deaths in Guinea. WHO is accelerating preparedness and response efforts for the possible resurgence of Ebola in West Africa, a region that suffered greatly from Ebola in 2014,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti on February 14 through Twitter.

Fearing a spread of the disease that could cripple their under-funded health systems which are also battling the coronavirus pandemic, neighbours Ivory Coast, Mali and Sierra Leone said on Monday that they have launched plans to stop any potential spread and reinforced border controls.

The second-deadliest known outbreak was declared over last year in Democratic Republic of Congo, but it recorded a resurgence of the disease on Feb. 7.