On Wednesday 1 June, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that Guinea has reached the end of active Ebola virus transmission, in what is the second such declaration from the country at the epicenter of the world’s worst outbreak of the disease.
The proclamation was made because the person with Guinea’s last confirmed case tested negative for the second time more than 42 days ago. Guinea will now effectively enter a 90-day period of heightened surveillance in order to make sure of the identification of any new cases before they spread to others.
During the most recent outbreak, seven confirmed and three possible cases of the virus surfaced between 17 March and 6 April. At lest five people died. Another three cases were recorded in neighboring Liberia in a woman who had travelled from Guinea along with her two children. The WHO has disclosed that the flare-up seems to have occurred after a person came into contact with infected body fluid from an Ebola survivor. Since the virus remains active in certain body fluids for months, the WHO cautions that the risk of outbreaks remain, however on Tuesday, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier disclosed that the organization is confident that affected countries are prepared and can deal with flare-ups efficiently.
Guinea is believed to be where the world’s worst Ebola outbreak occurred. The outbreak initially emerged in December 2014 and would later spread to two other neighboring countries – Liberia and Sierra Leone. Guinea first declared itself free of transmission in December 2015.
According to health officials, the last known Ebola patient in Guinea has recovered and has been released from a treatment centre in the capital Conakry.
A spokesman for the country’s Ebola co-ordination unit has disclosed that two tests on the patient, a baby, had come back negative. Fode Tass Sylla has disclosed that “the baby is negative and so Guinea today is without a single Ebola patient,” adding, “we are crossing our fingers and praying that nothing will happen over the next 42 days so that we can celebrate Guinea without Ebola.”
Authorities have effectively begun the countdown to the end of the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, which is the last country that was still reporting cases after nearly two years and more than 11,000 deaths worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) declares that Ebola disease transmission has ended when the country goes through two incubation periods, 21 days each, without a new case emerging. The other two countries hardest hit by the outbreak, Liberia and Sierra Leone, have already been declared free of the deadly disease, however in Guinea, authorities have reported that they continued to face resistance in fearful communities, where people initially blamed international health workers for bringing the virus to their region.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that there are two new cases of Ebola that have been recorded in Guinea this week, effectively ending two consecutive weeks in West Africa when no cases of the disease were reported.
Officials have indicated that the two new patients were not previously identified contacts being tracked by health authorities. This suggests that officials are still unable to monitor everyone exposed to Ebola. On Friday, WHO spokeswoman Dr Margaret Harris disclosed that the UN health agency had expected to see more cases despite the recent lull in the epidemic, adding that the cases were in areas where scientists knew Ebola was spreading.
In its weekly update, WHO officials disclosed that there was a “near-term risk of further cases among both registered and untraced contacts.” To date, Ebola has killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Guinea’s opposition has called for a re-run of the weekend’s first-round of the presidential vote, condemning that the ballot was fraudulent even before the results and have been released, and pledging to take to the streets in protest.
Speaking at a press, which was attended by the six other candidates challenging incumbent President Alpha Conde, opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo stated, “we cannot accept this ballot, we request it be annulled. We will not accept the results of this vote…We will not give in, we have the right to demonstrate, we will demonstrate.” While the other six candidates have questioned the vote, none have called for a protest. The single woman running for election, Marie Madeleine Dioubate, urged her supports to “stay calm, stay off the streets.”
Despite clashes between Conde and Diallo supporters in the final days of the campaign, which left a dozen people dead, voting was peaceful though the opposition complained about logistical problems. Sources have disclosed that some polling stations opened late, while others were short of envelopes. Some voters turned up without voter ID cards while others failed to be listed on the registers. Some registers were neither in alphabetical nor numerical order. Voters however appeared to have turned out in massive numbers for Sunday’s polls. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the peaceful vote and has urged all sides to refrain from any action that could lead to violence ahead of the release of the official results, which are expected Tuesday at the earliest.
During the week leading up to 6 September 2015, there were a total of two confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) that were reported: 1 in Guinea and 1 in Sierra Leone. Both cases that were reported during this period were registered contacts associated with previous cases in the same areas of Conakry, Guinea, and Kambia, Sierra Leone, in the past two weeks. According to officials, the overall case incidence has remained stable, with 2 – 3 confirmed cases being reported per week for six consecutive weeks. Currently, there are a total of three active chains of transmission: two in and around the capital Conakry, Guinea; and one in the western district of Kambia, Sierra Leone. All remaining contacts associated with transmission chains in Forecariah, Guinea completed follow-up in the week leading up to 6 September. Additionally, during this recording period, Liberia was declare free of Ebola virus transmission for a second time on 3 September, 42 days after the country’s last laboratory-confirmed case, which was associated with the Margibi cluster of cases. Liberia has now entered a 90-day period of heightened surveillance. The total number of contacts currently under observation in Guinea and Sierra Leone has increased from approximately 450 on 30 August to approximately 1300 on 6 September. Officials have indicated that this increase is largely attributed to the single high-risk community death that was reported in Kambia, Sierra Leone, at the end of the previous reporting week (week leading up to 30 August.)
There have been a total of 28,141 reported confirmed, probable and suspected cases of EVD in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with 11,291 reported deaths.
The single confirmed case that was reported in Guinea in the week leading up to 6 September had onset of symptoms in the Ratoma area of the capital, Conakry. The case is a 13-year-old girl, who is a registered contact and relative of 2 cases that were reported from the same area of the city during the previous two weeks. There are currently 292 contacts who are under follow-up in 2 adjacent prefectures: Conakry (266 contacts) and Dubreka (26 contacts).
In the week leading up to 6 September, there was one new confirmed case that was reported in Sierra Leone. The case is the daughter of the high-risk case that was reported from Kambia the pervious week. While over 900 contacts have been identified in association with the chain of transmission, the majority of these contacts have been defined by geographical proximity rather than by history of possible exposure and are therefore considered to be at a very low risk. Authorities however have warned that further cases are expected amongst the approximately 40-high risk contacts that have been identified so far. The origin of infection of the 67-year-old woman remains under investigation.