Guinea - Ebola outbreak - 2021 - 23 cases including 12 deaths - declared over

[Pathfinder]

WEEKLY BULLETIN ON OUTBREAKS
AND OTHER EMERGENCIES
Week 10: 1-7 March 2021
Data as reported by: 17:00; 7 March 2021

Ebola virus disease Guinea

18 Cases
9 Deaths
50.0% CFR

EVENT DESCRIPTION

The outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) declared in Guinea on
14 February 2021 continues. As of 7 March 2021, there is a total
of 18 cases (14 confirmed and 4 probable) and nine deaths (case
fatality ratio 50.0%). Currently, only one health district remains
active (reporting at least one confirmed cases) and two health
districts out of 38 are on alert (have at least one contact). Five
health workers are among the confirmed cases.

A total of 306 (88%) contacts out of 348 are being followed
up. Four displaced contacts, three internal to Guinea (Conakry,
Lola and Tougue) and one outside Guinea (in the country of
C?te d?Ivoire), are being actively sought and will be returned to
N?Zerekore when they are found.

PUBLIC HEALTH ACTIONS

Full incident management has been implemented in Guinea.
A supporting mission is in place in N?Zerekore to strengthen
coordination and response pillars; a local alert system has
been implemented, as well as active case finding and followup of
resource mobilization (CERF, ECHO funds).

Vaccination has started, with a cumulative total of 2038
people vaccinated, including 298 high-risk contacts, 1386
contacts-of-contacts and 394 probable contacts, including
720 frontline workers.

Case management in affected regions is being supported
by partners, and safe and dignified burial teams are being
trained by the Red Cross.

Three new community deaths, with two swabs collected and
one safe and dignified burial conducted.

Ten patients (5 confirmed and 5 suspected cases) are
currently hospitalized in the Epidemic Diseases Treatment
Centre in N?Zerekore.

Risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) is
underway, with support for training women in EVD response;
raising awareness among bereaved families, meeting with
the president of the Federation of Motorcycle Taxi Trade
Unions and sharing the first socio-anthropological report on
the perceptions of communities in Gouecke.

SITUATION INTERPRETATION

Health teams in Guinea are acting rapidly to trace the path of the
virus and curb further infections and a full incident management
system has been set up. Challenges are inadequate coordination
in N?Zerekore and community resistance to response measures,
which requires rapid management to facilitate access to
communities for implementation of public health actions, which is
being delayed by this resistance, including vaccination activities.
There is an urgent need for additional funds to allow recruitment
of additional staff to strengthen field operations, particularly in
N?Zerekore.

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/340012/OEW10-0107032021.pdf

 

[Pathfinder]

Release - 4 EBOV genomes from Guinea 2021 outbreak

EbolavirusGuinea 2021
Mar 12
1 / 1
Mar 12
5h ago
philippe_lemeyARTIC Network
3
5h Summary
Posted on behalf of PFHVG

National authorities in Guinea declared a new Ebolavirus (EBOV) disease outbreak in Nz?r?kor? region on 14 February 2021. To identify the EBOV strain responsible for this outbreak, five samples were sequenced at PFHVG using MinION (Oxford Nanopore) according to the ARTIC network protocol (https://artic.network). A consensus ranging from 47% to 88% was obtained for 4 samples while only 7.5% consensus genome was recovered from one sample (not included in the analyses below).

The 4 sequences were identified as the Makona variant (Zaire ebolavirus) that was responsible for the 2013-2016 EBOV outbreak in West Africa. Phylogenetic reconstruction demonstrates that the four sequences cluster together within the Makona diversity (Fig. 1), indicating that the current outbreak is the result of human transmission rather than an new introduction from the animal reservoir. Remarkably, the branch ancestral to this cluster represents only 12 substitutions, much less than would be expected for genomes sampled in 2021 based on the EBOV evolutionary rate during the 2013-2016 EBOV outbreak (Fig. 1). This indicates a long period of latency (5 to 7 years) prior to the this year?s resurgence. This extends previous findings of a flare-up in 2016 in Guinea originating from a survivor with virus persistence in seminal fluid for more than 500 days (Diallo et al., 2016).
...

https://virological.org/t/release-4-ebov-genomes-from-guinea-2021-outbreak/642

 

[sharon sanders]

Please also see:

Guinea - Ebola: Thread documenting initial outbreak - March 2014 +

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

MARCH 15, 2021
BY MARC GOZLAN

Infected five years ago, an Ebola survivor is believed to be the cause of a new epidemic in Guinea

A survivor of the large-scale Ebola epidemic that raged in West Africa in 2013-2016 is believed to be the cause of the epidemic outbreak currently hitting Guinea. This is the surprising conclusion of three independent reports published on March 12, 2021 on the virological.org website .

The new Ebola epidemic in Guinea would therefore not have the origin of a new passage of the formidable pathogenic agent from animals to humans (anthropozoonosis), but the resurgence of the virus which circulated five years ago from an Ebola survivor.

Paradigm shift

The fact that a new epidemic outbreak could occur from an individual with a latent infection five years after a previous epidemic is totally unexpected * . This constitutes a paradigm shift regarding the transmission of the Ebola virus as a new epidemic may not necessarily emerge from crossing the species barrier from wild animal to humans.

To date, the longest duration of virus persistence in an Ebola virus disease survivor was 531 days (44 months). In 2015, researchers reported the case of a 56-year-old survivor whose seminal fluid contained the virus 531 days after the onset of the disease. In February 2016, this person had sexually transmitted the virus 470 days after the onset of symptoms and was the source of an epidemic outbreak in Guinea and Liberia.

The studies published on virological.org concern the Ebola virus disease epidemic in Forest Guinea declared on February 14, 2021. To date, nine people have died. This is the first time that the disease has been reported in this country since the end of the dramatic epidemic that raged from 2013 to 2016. It was responsible for more than 28,000 cases in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, had resulted in over 11,000 deaths and left over 10,000 survivors. The epidemic started in Guinea, before spreading to Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Three teams sought to determine the nature of the viral strain of the current epidemic in Guinea.

Regarding the first team, three samples were sent to the Pasteur Institute in Dakar in Senegal for genetic sequencing. The researchers, in association with molecular biologists from the universities of Nebraska (United States) and Edinburgh (United Kingdom), succeeded in obtaining two genetic sequences, corresponding respectively to 99.6% and 98.7% of the 'Genomic viral RNA.

The researchers compared the two genetic sequences of the virus currently circulating in Guinea with 1,063 genomes of the Ebola epidemic which had raged from 2013 to 2016. It turns out that the genomes of the Ebola viruses circulating in 2021 are extremely close to those of the historic epidemic.

The genomes also share ten substitutions that appeared during the historic epidemic, in particular a mutation that had occurred in Sierra Leone and which testifies to an adaptation of the virus to humans. In other words, the virus currently circulating shares certain characteristics with the one circulating during the historic outbreak. These data show that the current epidemic is probably not caused by a new passage of the Ebola virus to humans from an animal reservoir, but that it is directly linked to human cases that occurred in 2013-2016.

In fact, the researchers specify that the genomes of the virus circulating this year in Guinea are closely related to the Makona strain which was rampant in August 2014 in the same region. The genetic sequences differ only by twelve or thirteen substitutions compared to those of the previous epidemic. In other words, we observe, over the entire genome, a difference only at the level of twelve or thirteen letters between the virus currently circulating and the one circulating at the time.

This is a much lower mutation rate than one would expect if this RNA virus had circulated all this time between individuals, in other words if it had been transmitted via several chains of transmission.

It is estimated that there are 22 or 23 substitutions per year in the genome of the Ebola virus, which should have resulted, while maintaining the same rate, in more than 110 mutations five years after the historic epidemic that began. completed in 2016. Conversely, a persistent infection would explain why the genome of the virus hardly evolves. There is therefore every reason to believe that in 2021 the epidemic in Guinea started from a person who had harbored the Ebola virus for at least five years.

This conclusion is also the one retained by another team led by researchers from the Center for Research and Training in Infectious Diseases (CERFIG) at the University of Conakry (Guinea) and their French colleagues at the University of Montpellier. Molecular biologists compared four genetic sequences covering at least 99.9% of the genome of the current virus with viral genomes from the historic outbreak.

It appears that three genomes of the virus currently circulating are strictly identical and that a fourth genome differs only at the level of a single nucleotide (substitution of a letter in the genetic code). The phylogenetic analysis, aimed at determining the degree of relatedness between the viral genomes, also showed that the 2021 sequences belong to a group of viruses which circulated during the historic epidemic which raged between 2013 and 2016. The researchers therefore conclude that the new epidemic is the result of the resurgence of a strain that circulated in West Africa in 2013-2016 and that the low rate of mutation observed during the comparison of genetic sequences would be due to the persistence of Ebola virus, maintained in a state of latency, in a survivor.

The third report, from researchers at the Guinea Haemorrhagic Fevers Project (PFHG) laboratory in Conakry in association with their counterparts from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Hamburg (Germany), reports similar results.

In Guinea, the index case is a 51-year-old nurse

The current epidemic in Guinea appeared between January 18 and February 13, 2021 in the sub-prefecture of Gou?ck?, in the region of Nz?r?kor?. The patients presented with diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding after attending the funeral of a family member on February 1, 2021. The index case was a 51-year-old nurse who had consulted on January 18, 2021 in a health center for headache, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, fever and fatigue.

A diagnosis of typhoid fever was then made. On January 23, 2021, she sought a second medical opinion at another health facility where a diagnosis of malaria had been made. She died five days later after having consulted a traditional practitioner in the meantime. On February 1, the recommended measures for safe burial were not implemented. All five of her family members and the traditional practitioner she consulted were infected. Of these seven cases combined, five died.

It is known that the Ebola virus can escape the immune system, residing in the eyeball, testes or cerebrospinal fluid, which represent what specialists call immunological sanctuaries. In rare cases, an Ebola virus disease survivor may relapse when the virus reactivates. This was the case with British nurse Pauline Cafferkey who, after being infected in Sierra Leone, developed meningoencephalitis the following year when the virus was reactivated. She had to be hospitalized a few months later because she was showing symptoms after a second reactivation.

How to explain in a survivor the reactivation of the Ebola virus after several years? By far the most likely hypothesis is that the virus, kept latent in the testes, is reactivated through intercurrent infection or decreased immunity and was then transmitted during sexual intercourse. The Guinean nurse was therefore undoubtedly infected through the sexual route by an individual infected with Ebola five years ago and who recently had a relapse. It cannot be ruled out, however, that the nurse had been infected with the virus several years before and had only developed few symptoms. In this case, she herself could have been an Ebola survivor, without even knowing it, and relapsed.

Avoiding the stigmatization of Ebola survivors

?On a practical level, the fact that a survivor of Ebola could, on the occasion of a relapse, be at the origin of a new epidemic shows the need to develop the search for antiviral drugs, the only way to eradicate a virus that remains in a latent state in the body ?, underlines Eric Delaporte, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Montpellier (IRD / Inserm unit). And this specialist adds that "due to the frequency of Ebola epidemics, sometimes occurring in densely populated urban areas, the number of survivors is greater, which increases the risk of reactivation of the virus".

?The information of an outbreak of Ebola from a survivor should be handled with great caution given the stigma these people suffer. Indeed, our team having recently reported that these surviving patients can still present sequelae four years after having been declared cured, it is therefore not a question of this already vulnerable population being stigmatized again ?, declares Eric Delaporte. "The prevalence of symptoms on these Ebola survivors decreases over the years, but remains surprisingly high, reflecting the existence of forms that one could call 'Ebola long', or even very long, by analogy with the name used in the Covid-19 ?, he concludes.

Marc Gozlan (Follow me on Twitter , Facebook , Linkedin )

https://www.lemonde.fr/blog/realite...-a-lorigine-dune-nouvelle-epidemie-en-guinee/

 

[Pathfinder]

WEEKLY BULLETIN ON OUTBREAKS
AND OTHER EMERGENCIES

Week 11: 8 - 14 March 2021
Data as reported by: 17:00; 14 March 2021
...

Ebola virus disease Guinea

18 Cases
9 Deaths
50.0% CFR

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Guinea has been experiencing an outbreak of Ebola virus disease
(EVD) since 14 February 2021 when it was declared by National
authorities. As of 13 March 2021, there is a total of 18 cases
(14 confirmed and 4 probable) and nine deaths (case fatality
ratio 50.0%). At this time, only one health district remains active
(reporting at least one confirmed case) and two health districts
out of 38 are on alert (have at least one contact).

Five health workers are among the confirmed cases. Three
patients (all confirmed cases) are currently hospitalized in the
Epidemic Diseases Treatment Centre in N?Zerekore.

A total of 341 (93.0%) contacts out of 368 are being followed
up. Five contacts have migrated, four are within Guinea (Conakry,
Dinguiraye, Tougue and Yomou) and one outside Guinea (in the
country of C?te d?Ivoire), are being actively sought.

A cumulative total of 3 332 people has been vaccinated, including
288 high-risk contacts, 2 602 contacts-of-contacts, 442 probable
contacts, and 1 055 frontline workers.

PUBLIC HEALTH ACTIONS

First meeting of the WHO Compliance and Risk Management
Committee for Ebola response operations has taken place in
Guinea.

WHO daily IMST meeting and follow-up of field operations
continue with introduction of the new response coordinator
in Nzerekore by the National Agency for Health Security
(ANSS).

Training and deployment of local agents to strengthen active
case finding is ongoing.

Case management in affected regions is being supported
by partners, and safe and dignified burial teams are being
trained by the Red Cross.

Four new community deaths, with four swabs collected from
five bodies and one safe and dignified burial conducted.

A visit to Gouecke was conducted by the case management
team, a key partner ALIMA, Infection Prevention and Control
teams and the logistics teams to assess and identify a
potential area for the transit centre/isolation for suspected
Ebola cases, as well as assessing health care provision in
this area.

Risk communication and community engagement teams
are supporting strengthening of weak reporting of alerts
by social mobilizers. A meeting was held by UNICEF and
Surveillance teams to analyse the situation and establish a
roadmap (supervision in the seven priority health districts,
briefing on the community surveillance, the alert circuit, and
close formative supervision) with a view to improving the
indicators.

A meeting was held with local elected officials and head of
the health centre to list the traditional practitioners in the
rural commune of Gouecke.

The analysis cell (epidemiology and social sciences) and
partners (WHO, UNICEF, CERFIG) to agree on the mode of
operation with the national authority.

SITUATION INTERPRETATION

There was no new EVD confirmed case reported in the past seven
days. Vaccination of high-risk persons is ongoing. WHO daily
incident management meetings and follow-up of field operations
continue with introduction of the new response coordinator in
Nzerekore by ANSS. Key partners are analysing the situation to
establish a roadmap (supervision in the seven priority health
districts, briefing on the community surveillance, the alert circuit,
and close formative supervision) with a view to improving the
indicators and consequently strengthening the response.

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/340188/OEW11-0814032021.pdf

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

N'Z?r?kor?: Despite reluctance, Ebola in the process of being under control

Published by :
Alpha Oumar Bald?
Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 12:12 p.m.

Localities in the city of N'Z?r?kor? in particular Gbangana and Goueck? are still reluctant to fight against Ebola virus disease. But in view of the recorded results, the Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus is in the process of being brought under control in this part considered to be the epicenter of the epidemic.

This is explained by the absence of a positive case for twelve days in the capital of Forest Guinea. In any case, this is the information that emerges from the meeting held on the morning of this Wednesday, March 17, 2021.

The participants in this meeting took this opportunity to set up a synergy of actions of all the partners in the response against this virus.

Present at this meeting, Dr Momo Camara, from the ANSS specified that now ?the arrival of any partner mission in N'Z?r?kor?, is supported by the presentation of the TDR, which will take into account the requirement of the response plan. for six months ?.

To date, there are 3,075 people vaccinated in the region, 290 contacts to follow up and 14 contacts that are not being followed up.

https://www.guineenews.org/nzerekore-malgre-la-reticence-ebola-en-phase-detre-maitrise-2/

------------------------------------------------

Fight against the Ebola resurgence, UNICEF is building 4 boreholes in Gou?ck?

Mosaiqueguinee.comBy Mosaiqueguinee.com 4 hours ago in News , Infrastructures , Publi-Reportage , Health

Fight against the Ebola resurgence, UNICEF is building 4 boreholes in Gou?ck?

To quickly control the spread of the Ebola virus disease through systematic hand washing, UNICEF made water available in Gou?ck?, the epicenter of the epidemic by building 4 boreholes.

A year ago, when the district's borehole broke down, Affou Keita, 24 years old and mother of 2 children, was getting water in an unsanitary backwater not far from her home. Her children often fell ill and her husband spent a lot of money on their care. ?It was very painful here to get drinking water, you had to go very early to avoid queuing at the backwater, you were torn between housework, water chores and other daily activities. ?, She testifies.

In February 2021, the resurgence of the Ebola virus disease caused great concern in the rural commune of Gou?ck?, located 42 km from N'z?r?kor?. For example, UNICEF rehabilitated two boreholes in the city center and built two others in the districts of Gbahay? and Banzo.

Today, Affou Keita is fully delighted with the rehabilitation of their borehole, which will not only allow him to drink drinking water but also to help the entire community in preventing the Ebola virus epidemic. "It is a great relief for me and the rest of the community to see this borehole rehabilitated by UNICEF and especially in this period of resurgence of the Ebola virus disease", she adds.

Even phew of relief in the districts of Gbahah? and Banzo, the construction of these two structures aroused great enthusiasm in the community. In Banzo, the health center which houses the borehole had in the past a water supply offered by a native of the village. Unfortunately, the system has become dilapidated and faulty for over 2 years and since then, health center staff have had a hard time finding drinking water, especially during childbirth.

Soon, this ordeal for health workers and the community in terms of water will be a distant memory. ?We thank UNICEF very much for this gesture. Before, when we had deliveries, women had to go to the surrounding districts to find us drinking water. With this new borehole, we have water at our fingertips and it will greatly facilitate the care of patients ?, rejoices Elise Loua, Head of the Banzo health post.

The sub-prefect of Gou?ck?, for his part, welcomed this emergency intervention by UNICEF in his area, because it will allow the community to take shelter from the pandemic, he will say that " you can't do anything without water. Today, UNICEF has just responded to one of our concerns and I am convinced that the rehabilitation and construction of these structures will contribute to the prevention of disease in the sub-prefecture of Gou?ck? ?.

To effectively fight the spread of the Ebola virus, water remains essential in the response. In addition to the rehabilitation of the water point at the Gou?ck? patient treatment center, the boreholes constructed and those rehabilitated by UNICEF, thousands of children will now be able to drink drinking water and protect against pandemics and epidemics. .

Aboubacar Sidiki Diallo

https://mosaiqueguinee.com/lutte-contre-la-resurgence-debola-lunicef-construit-4-forages-a-gouecke/

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

Guinea: Ebola soon defeated in Nz?r?kor?, epicenter of the epidemic ...

NZEREKORE- Declared in mid-February in Guinea, the epidemic of Ebola hemorrhagic fever is on the way to be defeated in Nz?r?kor?, the epicenter. For two weeks now, no positive case has been recorded.

On Wednesday March 17, 2021, one of the two patients hospitalized at C-TEPI in Nz?r?kor? left cured. To date, only one patient remains at the treatment center, according to health authorities.

To curb this disease, the Ebola response coordination deemed it necessary to visit establishments to raise awareness of the measures needed to avoid contracting the virus and break the chains of reluctance among citizens. A vast vaccination campaign was also carried out in the region.

? Since the epidemic began, we have recorded 18 cases with 14 confirmed cases, 4 probable cases and 5 hospitalized deaths linked to this disease. Nowadays at the level of C-TEPI, there is only one confirmed case which is hospitalized. 7 cases came out cured. Even yesterday there was a healed one who came out. All the cases which had been admitted in time came out cured. It has been 13 days since we recorded any confirmed cases , ?explained Dame Seny Loua, focal point of communication at the DPS of Nz?r?kor? and president of the communication sub-committee of the Ebola response coordination.

Today, there are 267 contacts that are being followed up. 3215 citizens were vaccinated including 529 contacts. This makes a rate of 78% of contacts who have received the vaccination.

SAKOUVOGUI Paul Foromo

https://www.africaguinee.com/articl...ntot-vaincu-nzerekore-epicentre-de-l-epidemie

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

Ebola: the virus would have hidden for 5 years in the body of a patient before reappearing

By Jean-Guillaume Bayard

Analysis of the genome of the virus which has been circulating in Africa, particularly in Guinea, since February shows that it is the same strain as that which prevailed between 2013 and 2016.

Posted on 03/18/2021 at 6.30 p.m.
...
By analyzing the strain of the virus responsible, called EBOV, the scientists concluded that it belongs to the Makona line of the Zaire species, just like the strain of the 2013-2016 epidemic. This means that the return of the virus is the result of human-to-human contamination. ?To see a new outbreak appear from a latent infection five years after the end of an epidemic is unheard of and it's frightening , wrote in Science ?ric Delaporte, specialist in infectious diseases at the University of Montpellier and which is part of one of the three teams to have analyzed the genome of the virus currently circulating in Guinea. Epidemics triggered by Ebola survivors are still very rare but they pose a delicate problem: how to prevent them without stigmatizing those who have survived the disease? ?

Other possible explanations

To explain this return of the virus with an almost identical strain, the researchers hypothesize that it would have remained latent in the body of a survivor for at least 5 years before it contaminated the nurse who died at the end of January. A previous study, published in 2016 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases , has indeed shown that the virus is able to survive 500 days in the body before being transmitted again. The researchers then estimated that the virus would have hidden in the testes which have an immune privilege, that is to say that a pathogen can be found there without triggering an inflammatory reaction. The same phenomenon would be at work but, this time, over a much longer time.

Research continues and new explanations could be put forward. For Dan Bausch, a researcher who works on several outbreaks of Ebola virus disease and who participated in the study published in Science , genomic analysis is not enough to conclude that the virus has slept for 5 years in a survivor. According to him, it is possible that a chain of human-to-human transmission went under the radar during all these years. ?Understanding what exactly happened is one of the biggest questions right now,? he concluded.

https://www.pourquoidocteur.fr/Arti...ache-5-ans-le-corps-d-un-patient-reapparaitre

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

Guinea: Situation report n ? 37 on the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic - March 23, 2021 [FR]

Highlights

Vaccination of 120 people in N'Z?r?kor? (CU: 100 and Gou?ck?: 20) on March 22, 2021;
Total of 4,025 people vaccinated from February 23 to March 22, 2021;
Total of 1,558 front-line personnel vaccinated from February 23 to March 22, 2021;
Seventy (70) alerts recorded:
? 62 live alert cases (40 investigated and 22 under investigation);
? 8 deaths all investigated and validated (5 Swab and 3 non-Swab);
No case of EVD hospitalized at the CT-Epi in Nongo (Conakry) on March 22, 2021;
No new suspected case of EVD recorded at the CT-Epi in N'Z?r?kor? on March 22, 2021;
No new confirmed case of EVD registered in N'Z?r?kor? as of March 22, 2021;
No case of EVD death recorded at the N'Z?r?kor? CT-Epi on March 22, 2021;
No healing recorded at the N'Z?r?kor? CT-Epi on March 22, 2021;
One (01) confirmed case hospitalized at the CT-Epi in N'Z?r?kor? on March 22, 2021;
Cumulative eight (08) healings from February 13 to March 22, 2021;
Cumulative of fourteen (14) confirmed cases and four (4) probable cases recorded as of March 22, 2021;
Cumulative nine (09) deaths including five (5) confirmed cases and four (4) probable cases as of March 22, 2021;
Cumulative of five (5) infected agents including 2 deaths (1 confirmed case and 1 probable case) as of March 22, 2021;
To date, 19 contacts are being followed up.

https://www.humanitarianresponse.inf...e-%C3%A0-virus

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

PRESS RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

ACL Interview: all about the sources of the second ebola epidemic in Guinea

HEALTH MARCH 27, 2021 CREATED: MARCH 27, 2021

In this new issue of ACL interview, we take a look at the second ebola epidemic that Guinea has recorded since last February in the south-east of the country, in the locality of Gou?ck?, region of Nz?r?kor?. The country is on the verge of overcoming this resurgence, but the 42 days of surveillance are still underway.

There are no longer any patients in the various care centers and the health authorities hope to declare the epidemic over soon. In the meantime, a team of experts has tried to trace the sources of this epidemic. A study was carried out to find out if this new epidemic is caused by a different strain from the first, or if it is simply the resurgence of the known strain between 2013 and 2016. Among these specialists, our guest in this new issue of ACL interview, Associate Professor Mamadou Saliou Sow, head of the infectious diseases department at the Donka National Hospital.

ACL:

Hello Professor and thank you for granting us this interview. You recently participated in a study to go back to the origins of the new Ebola epidemic which resurfaced in N'z?r?kor? and you came to the conclusion that the strain of the virus is the same as the one we know in 2013. how did you come to these conclusions?

Professor Mamadou Saliou Sow

Thank you very much for inviting me. When we look at everything that has been done by the various laboratories, our laboratory and the other labs in the sub-region, and when we cross-reference this with the information coming from the national health security agency, we realize that it there are points that overlap. There are a lot of labs that received samples from people who were infected, especially the first case that came to Conakry, so we tried to do the sequencing of this virus to see if this virus is close to the viral strain that was here in Guinea in the 2013 epidemic. So the conclusion is that it is a viral strain that is very close to the viral strain that was rampant here and it is not a new transmission but a 'a new infection from a persistent strain.


ACL:

What do you mean by that, for the less informed listener? What does that mean ?


Professor Mamadou Saliou Sow:

For the least informed listener, that is to say that when we take the sample, we do the sequencing we try to look in detail at the virus to see if the virus is close to the virus which was there in 2013 or then if the virus is not close, if it is a new viral strain ... and so when we look at all this, we make comparisons and we come to this conclusion.


ACL:

There is another aspect which nevertheless confuses comprehension. The ANSS has teams in the field who also produce daily reports and they believe that the origin is not linked to a former patient who has been cured. How to explain this?

Professor Mamadou Saliou Sow:

In the first ANSS investigation report, the index case, the very first case, in its description, when we do the investigations, they found that this index case was not cured of Ebola. So he's not cured of Ebola.
What we do not know is whether this case was in contact with healed people and we cannot say it, but in this report it is mentioned that it is not a cured case of Ebola. So there are assumptions that still persist. I think the research is ongoing but for now what is certain is that when you look at the two reports, you realize that the viral strain of the current virus is the same as that of the 2013 virus, so a very, very close similarity. Except that when we take the person of the index case, this person is not also a person who was infected and who is cured.


ACL:

So you confirm that the virus causing this disease is the same as the one that Guinea experienced in 2013?


Professor Mamadou Saliou Sow:

When we look, in the laboratory, at the virus that infected the person, when we look at the conclusion of the laboratory, we can say that it is a strain very close to almost 99% of the strain of 2013, so practically it is the same virus that was there in 2013.


ACL:

Tell us, scientifically speaking professor, what is the time that the Ebola virus can do before disappearing from the human body?


Professor Mamadou Saliou Sow:

When we did follow-up studies of people who were cured, our studies showed that the virus persisted in semen for up to two years. For a start, we found that the virus, when we had just started the project, we had no information about it. But then, with hindsight, we realized that the virus persisted in semen for so long.


ACL:

How important is it for the scientific community to go back to the origin of the epidemic?


Professor Mamadou Saliou Sow:

If we know the exact origin of the epidemic, it becomes easier to end this epidemic. It will be enough just to take good care of this origin, hence the interest of knowing the origin and knowing the viral strain which can allow to have good tools to be able to fight the epidemic.


ACL:

What's the next step we can expect after this first research report?



Professor Mamadou Saliou Sow:

First it continues, research continues and then there is a whole team, there is the response that is put in place by the Ministry of Health through the national health security agency and people in the field, vaccination, care, all of this continues to fight this epidemic.

http://aconakrylive.com/index.php/s...ces-de-la-deuxieme-epidemie-d-ebola-en-guinee

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

April 1, 2021 At 20 08 52 04524 Posted By Alpha Guineematin.Com MAIN FOCUS , News , Forest Guinea , My Region , N'Z?r?kor? , Health

Soulouta (N'Z?r?kor?): 3 suspicious deaths and one positive case of Ebola recorded

While it seemed to have been defeated, the Ebola virus disease has just reappeared in N'Z?r?kor?. A positive case was recorded this Thursday, April 1, 2021, in the district of Kpaghalaye, under the sub-prefecture of Soulouta. According to the prefectural director of health of N'Z?r?kor?, interviewed by the local correspondent of Guineematin.com, it is following three deaths in the space of three days in the same family, that another member of this family has been tested. And, his result was positive for Ebola.

?Indeed, we recorded a positive case of Ebola in the district of Kpaghalaye, under the sub-prefecture of Soulouta. And before this person was tested, there were 3 successive cases of death in the same family, ?said Dr S?kp? Th?oro, adding that the positive case fled when health workers wanted him to be taken to the clinic. treatment of N'Z?r?kor?. ?While we wanted to send him to CT-Epi, he fled to return to the neighborhood. But by tomorrow, we hope we will find him. And, there is a team that will go tomorrow morning to Kpaghalaye to vaccinate the contacts and the rest of the family, ?said N'Z?r?kor?'s DPS.

Note that the district of Kpaghalaye is located 15 kilometers from Gou?ck?, a sub-prefecture of N'Z?r?kor? where the Ebola epidemic reappeared last February.

From N'Z?r?kor?, Foromo Gbouo Lamah for Guineematin.com

https://guineematin.com/2021/04/01/s...a-enregistres/

---------------------------------------------------------

Urgent / Soulouta (N'z?r?kor?): a new case of Ebola notified

Mohamed bangouraBy Mohamed Bangoura 32 minutes ago in MAIN FOCUS , News , Latest News , Health

Ebola in Guinea: a fourth death recorded in N'Z?r?kor?, 115 contacts recorded

The information has just been confirmed by a local hospital source in N'z?r?kor? and the WHO through its Facebook page.

The identity of the patient has not been revealed but he would be a citizen of the sub-prefecture of Soulouta, located about ten kilometers from the sub-prefecture of Gou?ck?, locality where the Ebola epidemic reappeared in the region. country.

" We are all aware of the situation and tomorrow we talk about the fight against Ebola coordination meeting " , confided a good source.

According to our information, epidemiological surveillance made it possible to detect this new case of Ebola.

We will come back to that.

Alexis Koli?, Regional correspondent for mosaiqueguinee.com

https://mosaiqueguinee.com/urgent-so...ebola-notifie/

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

Ebola Again In Nz?r?kor?: One Positive Case And Three Suspicious Deaths Recorded In Kpaghalaye.

By Actuguinee.Org Updated Apr 2, 2021 92 0

A new case of Ebola and suspicious deaths were recorded in Kpaghalye, a village located 09 kilometers from Soulouta, the sub-prefecture to which it falls. According to our information, this is a student at the health care school whose three of his parents died last week, who tested positive for Ebola.

The student reportedly fled after the results confirmed he was positive. On the other hand, his village in which the three deaths were recorded, remains hermetically closed to the health authorities, we are told.

?It was last week that there were three successive deaths in Kpaghalaye. We went to the scene to investigate, the village was completely closed in front of us. We then asked for the vaccination as we did not know what these people died of, they refused. We carried out investigations, it was after this that they told us that there is one of the children who goes to the health care school. We approached him and indeed he was showing signs. We sensitized him to take his sample at the hospital and the results were positive. Except that when we wanted to go through the tutor to sensitize the young person to go to C-TEPI, he pretended to go to make himself comfortable and he escaped. The village also remains closed to the authorities if not we would be done with that. But we are going to find the young person and we are also in the process of raising awareness so that the village is open. We called nationals who are in Conakry to educate their parents, ?explains Doctor Sokpo Th?oro, DPS of Nz?r?kor?.

The sub-prefecture is located 35 kilometers from Nz?r?kor? and very close to Gou?ck?, the epicenter of the epidemic. It remained reluctant after the new outbreak of the epidemic in the region. Questioned, Rodrigue Koli?, sub-prefect of Soulouta, told us that these citizens have finally requested the arrival of health workers.

Jean Kouloubo KALIVOGUI, regional correspondent in Forest Guinea for Actuguinee.org.

https://actuguinee.org/index.php/20...rois-deces-suspects-enregistres-a-kpaghalaye/

 

[Pathfinder]

WHO African Region

@WHOAFRO
?
1h
Ring vaccination site set up in Soulouta village, #Guinea one day after a new #Ebola case was reported.
@WHO is supporting rapid Ebola vaccination roll out in the village. So far, 129 contacts linked to the recent case have been vaccinated.

 

[Pathfinder]

Guinea: Situation report n ? 47 on the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic - April 1, 2021 [FR]

Highlights

Registration of 4 new cases including 1 confirmed case and 3 probable cases of EVD,

59 alerts including 45 investigations carried out and 14 under investigation,

9 validated alerts (6 deaths including 1 swab? and 3 alive)
A suspected case transferred to the CT-Epi in N'Z?r?kor?
A suspected case collected and isolated at the regional hospital

https://www.humanitarianresponse.in...tion-n°47-sur-lépidémie-de-la-maladie-à-virus
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Bolstering community approach in Guinea?s Ebola fight

01 April 2021

N?Zerekore, Guinea ? A few days after he referred a patient from his clinic to the regional hospital, Emmanuel Goepogui, a private practitioner in N?Zerekore prefecture in south-eastern Guinea, received a visit by a community disease surveillance team. ?They came to inform me that my patient had tested positive for Ebola and that I was a direct contact,? he says.

?I was then vaccinated along with my family members. After 21 days of follow-up, I was told that I was safe.?

Ebola re-emerged in Guinea on 14 February for the first time since the 2014?2016 outbreak in West Africa. Health authorities along with teams from the World Health Organization (WHO) and partner agencies swiftly set up community disease surveillance system alongside other Ebola prevention and control measures. Tracking the spread of the virus is a key part of curbing the virus: who develops symptoms, where, with whom has the person has been in contact. This helps in quickly detecting cases and isolating their contacts.

With this information, response teams can effectively detect and investigate cases, carry out testing, monitor contacts and vaccinate. Since the outbreak was declared, Guinea had by 2 April recorded 22 cases and 12 deaths, far lower than the previous outbreak which claimed 11 000 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The Ebola response is using a health district approach whereby prevention and control measures pivot around cases. This allows emergency teams to concentrate efforts in an affected locality to curb further spread of the virus. The decentralized response also bolsters the leadership of the local authorities and empowers the health and social service personnel who understand their communities better.

?WHO and other partners are supporting this approach by providing human, financial and material resources to each of the 17 health districts as well as the local health directorate,? says Dr Ibrahima Sory Fofana, WHO Ebola surveillance lead in N'Zerekore.

Each response team comprises a senior epidemiologist, active case-finding personnel, a specialist in communication, infection prevention and control, a psychosocial care expert and community outreach personnel.

The teams go into communities to seek out suspected Ebola cases, which entail any person, alive or dead, presenting or having presented sudden onset of high fever as well as at least three other symptoms of Ebola.

?I have reported an average of 15 suspected cases per day to [Ebola case] investigators,? says Dr Kebe Kalivogui, one of the 43 experts trained in case finding by WHO and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Once suspected cases are reported to Ebola case investigators, ?we go into the field to investigate and have confirmation that the case meets the definition of Ebola virus disease. Then we feed the information back to the alert system, which in turn sends a team to further investigate the reported cases," says Dr Faya Nestor Tolno, who is based in Gouecke, a rural community in Nzerekore and the epicentre of the current outbreak.

Facely Conde, who heads the contact-tracing team in Gouecke, organizes visits to monitor people who have been in contact with confirmed Ebola patients. The twice-a-day visits run for 21 days. Nearly 300 contacts have been monitored since the virus re-emerged, 270 cleared after testing negative for Ebola and all active contacts vaccinated.

However, alerts for suspected cases remain low and deaths in communities are not always reported to the health authorities. Fear of being stigmatized or traditional or religious practices sometimes undermine Ebola prevention measures.

Efforts are nonetheless being made to limit Ebola infection. In Nzerekore, a community engagement team worked to overcome hesitance by some community members over the safe and dignified burial of a traditional healer in the first weeks of the outbreak being declared.

https://www.afro.who.int/news/bolstering-community-approach-guineas-ebola-fight

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

N'Z?r?kor?: Gbakalaye, banned from Ebola response teams

Published by :
Alpha Oumar Bald?
Sunday, April 04, 2021 at 10:10 a.m.

The management of this second wave of the Ebola virus, in the capital of Forest Guinea, is encountering difficulties, due to the reluctance of the communities of Gbakalaye, our editorial team learned on the morning of Sunday.

Indeed, the populations of the village of Gbakalaye, epicenter of this second wave of Ebola, oppose their categorical refusal to the return of response teams. This makes the race for the watch very complicated, as several contact cases that have become suspect and probable are reported within the community.

?We are all locked up in the houses. It's only the old, naked women who are outside. And this is for rituals due to the presence of this "so-called Ebola virus" in our locality.

So the whole village agrees not to receive the Ebola teams. And this follows a meeting we held yesterday, Saturday April 3, 2021 ?, said Loua, a citizen of Gbakalaye, contacted by our editorial staff.

Contacted, the prefectural director of health, Dr Soko Touaro, confirmed that ?the old women went out naked through the village. And all the rest of the population is locked up in the houses ?.

Note that for the time being, there are two confirmed cases, and several unlisted contact cases, including suspects and probable at the same time when the populations oppose their refusal to cooperate with the Ebola virus response teams.
In addition, there are unsafe community burials throughout the day.

All these clearly show that if urgent actions are not taken the worst is to be feared in the coming days.

https://www.guineenews.org/nzerekore-gbakalaye-interdit-aux-equipes-de-riposte-debola/

------------------------------------------------------------------

N'z?r?kor? / Response to Ebola: the women of Kpagalaye march shirtless against the arrival of health workers

Mediaguinee
April 4, 2021

Decidedly, the inhabitants of the district of Kpagalaye, in the sub-prefecture of Soulouta (prefecture of N'z?r?kor?) do not believe in the new wave of the Ebola virus disease in their locality.

To oppose the arrival of health workers in their locality, the women, shirtless, beat the pavement this Sunday, April 4.

According to information gathered from one of the residents, it was during a meeting yesterday that the decision was taken unanimously not to receive the Ebola virus disease response team.

?These are the mothers who went out this morning almost naked to express our concern and say that we do not want to receive these people in our home.

They are therefore also doing ritual ceremonies in the village. And we are in our homes, ?she said.

While we believed to contain the Ebola virus disease, this new wave in Kpagalaye, located 15 kilometers from Goueck?, where the epidemic had reappeared for the first, is giving trouble to the regional coordination of the Ebola virus response. with this reluctance.

And already, according to our information, the district of Kpagalaye now has two confirmed cases. In addition, there are several suspected cases. The fear of heavy contamination is also there with unsecured burials.

Souzadjene Soumaoro

https://mediaguinee.org/nzerekore-r...torse-nu-contre-la-venue-des-agents-de-sante/

 

[Treyfish]

Not good :surrender:

 

[sharon sanders]

bump this

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

Anti-Ebola reluctance: all health facilities destroyed in Gbakalaye in N'Z?r?kor?

Published by :
Alpha Oumar Bald?
Monday, April 05, 2021 at 11:11 am

The village of Gbakalaye, the epicenter of the second wave of Ebola, located 15 km from the sub-prefecture of Soulouta, prefecture of N'Z?r?kor?, still remains closed to response teams.

The village of Gbakalaye, in its second day of reluctance, still remains closed to Ebola virus fever response teams, in the capital of Forest Guinea. Added to this is the destruction of all the handwashing kits deployed on the ground by the "bare-chested old women".

Joined on the spot Emmanuel, a resident citizen on the spot specifies that for the moment the old women are determined. And all the kits that were placed in the village were destroyed. ?As I speak to you, the old women are still present and we have very limited movements. But the village is determined not to receive an Ebola team here. We are told this morning that the nationals of Gbakalaye, in Conakry, must come, ?he concludes.

With this reluctance, we remain very cautious. It is for this reason that we cannot send teams to the field. Because the village remains closed to the teams of vaccinations, monitoring of contact cases and sensitization, ?said Dr Soko Touaro, prefectural director of health.

Note that there are at least 98 contacts not followed on the side of Gbakalaye because of reluctance. With several suspected and probable cases reported on the ground. This suddenly increases the risk of an explosion of the Ebola virus in the coming days.

https://www.guineenews.org/reticenc...sanitaire-detruit-a-gbakalaye-dans-nzerekore/

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

National Health Security Agency-ANSS
20 hrs

SITUATION OF EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE AS OF 04/03/2021

? Vaccination of 240 people in N?Z?r?kor? (CU: 60, Gou?ck?: 0, Kpagalaye: 120 and Soulouta: 60) Cumulative of 5,365 people vaccinated
Total of 2,342 front-line staff vaccinated
One (1) new confirmed case of EVD recorded at the CT-Epi in N?Z?r?kor?
? Three (03) suspected cases of EVD recorded at the CT-Epi of N?Z?r?kor?, including 1 who died on arrival
One (1) death (Test negative) recorded at the CT-Epi of N?Z?r?kor?;
Accumulation of nine (09) healings from February 13 to April 3, 2021;
? Cumulative of four (04) cases hospitalized at the CT-Epi of N?Z?r?kor? including one (01) confirmed case and three (3) suspected cases of EVD;
? Cumulative sixteen (16) confirmed cases and seven (7) probable cases recorded Cumulative twelve (12) deaths including five (5) confirmed cases and seven (7) probable cases
? 147 contacts are being followed up.

https://www.facebook.com/Sanitaire.net/

 

[Treyfish]

Ebola in Nz?r?kor?: Why should we fear the worst in Kpaghalaye?


NZEREKORE-The risk of the Ebola virus spreading in the forest region becomes very high following the occurrence of the second wave of the epidemic in Kpaghalaye in the sub-prefecture of Soulouta.
The village of Kpaghalaye where positive cases have been detected in recent days, the inhabitants remain reluctant and oppose any intervention by health workers in their locality. While the health team was preparing to rally the country this Sunday, April 4, 2021, the women of the village went out bare-chested to perform rituals protesting against the arrival of the team in their village, we are told.

? We didn't even move, we spent the whole day at the office. They told us that they are celebrating a party. So everything that happened there, we did not find out , ?insisted Doctor Sokpo Th?oro, prefectural director of health in Nz?r?kor?.


Nowadays, two positive cases have been detected. A patient is hospitalized at C-TEPI while the young student recently tested positive in Nz?r?kor? remains untraceable. According to indiscretions, several people are suffering in Kpaghalaye. Despite this, the villagers remain reluctant. Should we fear the worst in the region with this second wave? the future will tell.
To be continued?

:tiphat:https://www.africaguinee.com/articl...-pourquoi-il-faut-craindre-le-pire-kpaghalaye