Guinea and neighbouring countries try to contain outbreak that has killed at least 59 people so far.
The spread of Ebola, one of the most lethal infectious diseases known, has spooked nations with weak health care systems. In Guinea's southeast, home to all the confirmed cases, residents are avoiding large gatherings and prices in some markets have spiked as transporters avoid the area.
Health authorities in Liberia said they had now recorded eight suspected cases of Ebola, mainly in people who crossed the border from Guinea.
Five of these had died but tests were still being carried out to check if the cases were indeed Ebola, the Reuters news agency reported.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said a total of 86 suspected cases, including 59 deaths, had been reported in southeastern Guinea near the border with Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Laboratory tests have confirmed 13 cases of Ebola in Guinea so far, the first outbreak of the disease in West Africa.
"People are really frightened. They have seen people die in a matter of just two or three days. They are constantly worried who is going to be the next fatality," said Joseph Gbaka Sandounou, who manages operations for aid agency Plan International in Guekedou.
Samples taken from those who died in Liberia had been sent to Conakry for testing, according to the Geneva-based WHO.
In Guinea, authorities have taken steps to quarantine suspected cases in the districts of Guekedou, Macenta, Nzerekore and Kissidougou.
In Sierra Leone, authorities set up a task force after the death of a 14-year-old boy who had attended the funeral of a suspected Ebola victim. Authorities have yet to confirm if the boy died of the disease.
No handshakes
Ebola was discovered in 1976 in then-Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo. Scientists have identified the outbreak in Guinea as the virulent Zaire strain of the virus.
Because people who fall sick with it tend to vomit, have diarrhoea and suffer both internal and external bleeding, their bodies are often "covered in virus", Peter Piot, one of the co-discoverers of Ebola and now director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told Reuters.
Because people who fall sick with it tend to vomit, have diarrhoea and suffer both internal and external bleeding, their bodies are often "covered in virus", Peter Piot, one of the co-discoverers of Ebola and now director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told Reuters.
This means anyone in close contact with them - such as nurses, doctors and carers - is at risk, he said.
The virus causes a raging fever, headaches, muscle pain, conjunctivitis and weakness, before moving into more severe phases of causing vomiting, diarrhoea and haemorrhages.
In the southeastern Guinea town of Macenta, prices - especially for products like chlorine - have risen due to shortages, resident Mamady Drame said.
People have also started avoiding shaking hands. "Can you imagine that people are hesitant to even greet each other? That is a shocking symbol in our culture," Drame said.
In the distant capital, where there have not yet been any confirmed cases, some bank staff handling cash wore gloves and clients were encouraged to wash their hands before entering.
What do you think about this crisis ?
Source:
Reuters
The hypocritical warmongering US cowards and their Anglo-French poodles has spent over $2 TRILLION on neo-imperialism and fanning wars in Africa from CAR, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and so on, SO WHY IS THE SO-CALLED "WEST" NOT HELPING AFRICA with medical assistance and setting up disease control and research centers? If there was even the slightest possibility of exploiting Africans for their natural resources, the US and its Euro pups would be scrambling in C-117 to plunder Africa. It proves the point that the US and its vicious mutts are inhuman savages only interested in conflict, racism and exploitation. From the British Slave trade to the French uranium mining today, NOTHING HAS CHANGED FOR AFRICA.
ReplyDeleteYour about as dumb as they come, and don't read much, not even recent news.
DeleteNot only does the US provide more care and money for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in Africa than any other country just whom do you think funds most of the budget for the WHO?
Then you bring up plundering resources, and you bet your rear end we are doing aour best. Barack Obama on his last tour of Africa was there to sign a contract where his buddies at GE are going to build 5 new Natural Gas Power Plants for Africa as if they were doing Africa a favor. Instead they will set up the wells and charge Africans for their own Energy that they take themselves from Africa.
Then you have the Chinese which are milking regions dry of natural resources not to mention supplying the arms for Africans to slaughter each other is mass quantities and then you have the nerve to blame the West?
Not to mention the African Command, which has a top secret amount of American troops working in Africa, not to mention using Army Rangers to train Game Wardens to protect African wildlife from poachers.
With an ignorant and clueless view of reality the best thing for you to do is start reading, because you are as about as dumb as they come