Ebola vaccination campaign begins in Congo after virus reappears

GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, October 13 (Reuters) – Doctors in eastern Congo launched an Ebola vaccination campaign on Wednesday, the World Health Organization said, days after the death of an two-year-old boy raised fears of another major epidemic.

The toddler died last Wednesday at a clinic in the eastern city of Beni, one of the epicenters of a 2018-2020 epidemic that killed more than 2,200 people and infected around a thousand others. Read more

WHO said three people in the same neighborhood died in September after experiencing symptoms similar to Ebola, including severe vomiting and diarrhea.

Further genomic sequencing is needed to determine if the latest case is linked to previous outbreaks or if it is from a new source. Ebola can remain in semen for months after recovery, causing sporadic flare-ups of the disease which, when caught early, are usually easier to contain.

Health workers are monitoring more than 170 contacts and 200 doses of the vaccine have been sent to Beni, the WHO said.

They use Merck’s (MRK.N) The rVSV-ZEBOV fired to target the victim’s contacts and the contacts of the contacts, in what is called a “ring vaccination” approach, the WHO said.

The vaccine has revolutionized the fight against hemorrhagic fever, which typically kills around half of the people it infects.

The benefit was most felt in Congo, which has recorded 12 epidemics since the disease was discovered in the equatorial forest near the Ebola River in 1976.

In 2018, he helped contain the virus in the overcrowded city of Mbandaka, which has a population of more than one million.

“Ebola is a virulent and deadly virus that can spread aggressively and rapidly. But vaccines can create a protective firewall around cases, stop the chain of transmission, prevent a potentially large epidemic and save many lives.” , Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Director for Africa. , said in a statement.

Reporting by Hereward Holland; Editing by Edward McAllister and Nick Macfie

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