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Massive Ebola Outbreak Continues to Rage; Case Count Surpasses 1,000

posted by chromas on Tuesday March 26 2019, @01:33AM   Printer-friendly

martyb writes:

Massive Ebola Outbreak Continues to Rage; Case Count Surpasses 1,000:

The tally of deadly Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ticked above 1,000 this weekend as health responders continue to struggle to thwart the disease amid violent conflict.

The outbreak has been raging since August in the country’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces, which sit on the eastern side of the country, bordering South Sudan, Uganda, and Rwanda. The World Health Organization reported 1,009 cases (944 confirmed, 65 probable), including 629 deaths (564 confirmed, 65 probable) on Saturday, March 23.

The outbreak is the second largest of all time, surpassed only by the 2014 West African outbreak, which involved more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths.

Violent attacks and lingering distrust have hampered medical responses throughout the outbreak. Earlier this month, militants attacked a treatment center in the city of Butembo in North Kivu, killing a police officer and injuring health workers. Last month, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) suspended medical responses after two other attacks on treatment centers. In both attacks, unidentified assailants partially burnt down facilities.

If the disease won't kill them, the violence could get them, instead. Or their family. What can they do? Leave? Where do they go? And what if they cannot afford to leave?

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  • (Score: 2) by Hartree on Tuesday March 26 2019, @03:35AM (5 children)

    by Hartree (195) on Tuesday March 26 2019, @03:35AM (#819899)

    Burning hospitals in areas with poverty, poor sanitation and ongoing epidemics is effectively biological warfare by indirect means.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 26 2019, @04:50AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 26 2019, @04:50AM (#819940)

    When it's the people with the disease doing the burning then it's effectively suicide not warfare.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 26 2019, @05:00AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 26 2019, @05:00AM (#819945)

      It's negroes in Africa. Helping them is hopeless.

    • (Score: 2) by Hartree on Tuesday March 26 2019, @07:06PM (2 children)

      by Hartree (195) on Tuesday March 26 2019, @07:06PM (#820229)

      Obviously, it wasn't those suffering from Ebola that burnt the hospitals. They may get it later, but for now it was a military tactic.