Ebola levels on the rise in Guinea, Sierra Leone
Lisa Schnirring
CIDRAP News
Mar 04, 2015
Reflecting the tough challenge responders have in getting Ebola cases to zero, the number of confirmed infections increased in Guinea and Sierra Leone last week, with new cases popping up outside of known transmission chains and a number of Ebola detections found only after people died from the disease in their communities, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today in its weekly update on outbreak patterns.
Meanwhile, Liberia for the first time went a week without a confirmed case. The country reported only one confirmed case the week before.
Overall, 132 newly confirmed cases were reported in the outbreak countries last week, compared with 99 reported the week before, the WHO said. The latest reports lift the region’s number of confirmed, probable, and suspected cases to 23,924, with the number of deaths rising to 9,792.
Worrisome trends in Guinea
Guinea reported 51 new cases, 16 more than the previous week. The hot spots were three neighboring areas in the western part of the country: Conakry, Coyah, and Forecariah. Two new confirmed case were also reported in Macenta district, which had not reported a case for 4 weeks. Low levels of transmission were also seen in Lola district, an area that borders Ivory Coast.
The number of security incidents dropped from the previous week; four districts reported at least one, compared with nearly a third of Guinea’s 34 prefectures the week before.
Problems have been related to suspicions that responders are spreading Ebola. Aside from the risks posed to aid workers from violent attacks, community resistance has made it tough for workers to do two key steps that help curb the disease: identify sick people in the community and get them into isolation, and conduct contact tracing.
Two markers of those activities are still worrisome in Guinea. The WHO said more than half (16 of 30) deaths from Ebola last week occurred in community settings. That fact demonstrates that some patients are not being treated and perhaps saved because others are not stepping forward to notify responders.
Since Ebola virus levels are highest as people get sicker and at death, fatalities that occur in the community setting also pose the risk of spread to local residents. In addition, the WHO said 49% of Guinea’s cases occurred in known contacts, a sign of gaps in the contact-tracing process.
Outbreak responders also closely track the number of unsafe burials, given the high risk of spread related to local customs. Guinea reported 16 unsafe burials last week.
The only new health worker infection was reported from Guinea last week, raising the overall outbreak total in the three countries to 839, which includes 491 deaths.
Continued cases in Sierra Leone
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