Photo credit: AP
Five patients infected with a rare strain of Ebola have recovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday during the inauguration of a new treatment centre in the eastern city of Bunia.Speaking at the facility in Ituri province, the epicentre of the current outbreak, Tedros said four patients would be discharged on Sunday, while another had left hospital two days earlier.“Four people will be discharged today and there was one that was discharged the day before yesterday,” Tedros was quoted as saying by AP.“Of course, we’re still working on vaccines and treatments but that doesn’t mean that people cannot recover from Ebola,” he added.The WHO said on Friday that a patient had recovered from the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, which currently has no approved vaccine or treatment. The organisation described it as the first documented recovery of a confirmed Bundibugyo patient during the ongoing outbreak.According to the latest official figures cited by the WHO, there have been 906 suspected cases and 223 suspected deaths. Meanwhile, Congo’s neighbouring country Uganda has confirmed nine cases and one death, according to the country’s health ministry. The announcement came as aid agencies warned that the outbreak was spreading faster than response efforts. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Saturday called for expanded testing, faster deployment of aid workers and uninterrupted access to medical supplies.Health workers have also faced growing resistance from some communities, with anger over strict burial protocols for Ebola victims leading to at least three attacks on health facilities.During the opening ceremony, Tedros urged residents to seek medical care at the first sign of symptoms.“If you come to health facilities when you have symptoms, you can get the support and recover, so the key is to come forward as early as possible and to get the necessary support,” he said.“We can stop this Ebola and anyone who has it can also recover. But the rule… is this thing is everybody’s business and every citizen should be involved,” Tedros added.“The final message we would like to share with the Ituri community is that there is hope,” said Pierre Akilimali, incident manager at Congo’s National Institute of Public Health, during the inauguration of the new treatment centre.
