A patient, who became infected with Ebola after a visit to Butembo, one of the hottest places for the outbreak, has died. After his visit, he boarded a bus heading to Goma. Authorities from the DRC health ministry have confirmed that he died in Goma on Tuesday. The Goma Ebola case is the first death Ebola death recorded in the city.
Another Ebola outbreak?
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Goma case has the potential to become something catastrophic. WHO plans to have a meeting to judge if the response to the Goma Ebola case needs a more elaborate response globally.
Goma Ebola case: how did it start?
Goma city is home to 1 million people. This beautiful lakeside city is not too far from the place where the second highest Ebola outbreak happened.
The disease is rapidly spreading south, and it has already killed 1,600 people so far. There are fears that it could spread to the highly-populated area near the Rwandan border. To keep this fever contained, the Rwandan government has advised its citizens against non-essential travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Patient in the Goma Ebola case
The priest who got infected and subsequently died from the disease travelled to Butembo and interacted with Ebola patients. According to the health ministry, his symptoms began a week before he traveled back to Goma. When he got to Goma, he ran medical tests which confirmed he had Ebola.
The ministry is assuring citizens in the wake of the incident. An official of the ministry has said that the speed with which the patient was identified and isolated means that the spread was contained fairly quickly, which means that there is a very low risk of spreading it to the rest of Goma.
The fact that the city had been preparing for the arrival of the disease for about a year helped with the containment. Hand sanitizers are highly encouraged in Goma and commercial motorcycle riders are discouraged from sharing their helmets.
What is Ebola?
Between 2013 – 2016, about 12,000 people in West Africa died of Ebola. Symptoms of the hemorrhaging fever include diarrhea and vomiting. It is contracted through getting in contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or someone who had died from the fever.
Remember to wash your hands and use hand sanitizers to keep infection at bay. If you suddenly start feeling the symptoms associated with Ebola, you should report to a hospital immediately.
Key facts about Ebola
*This information is sourced from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
- Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a serious, often fatal illness.
- It has a case fatality rate of up to 90% and is considered to be one of the world’s most virulent diseases.
- The infection is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected animals or people. It is not airborne.
- EVD outbreaks commonly occur in remote Central and West African villages.
- The virus is transmitted to humans from wild animals and then spreads among people via human-to-human contact.
- No licensed specific treatment or vaccine is available yet for the treatment or prevention of this disease.
Resources: World Health Organisation
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