Previous experience of the Ebola outbreak helped speed up the handling in Guinea.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, GENEVA – The World Health Organization (WHO) stated: Ebola outbreak that broke out in Guinea in February has ended. Previously, WHO had stated that there was a risk of the outbreak spreading to related neighboring countries.
“This is the first time the disease has re-emerged in the country since the deadly outbreak in West Africa ending in 2016,” WHO said in a statement Saturday.
In March, WHO said the outbreak Ebola in Guinea there is a high risk of spreading to neighboring countries. Some of them are said to be unprepared for future outbreaks or vaccination campaigns. “There are six neighboring countries of Guinea and we are conducting a readiness assessment. Two of those countries are not ready and one is the border and there are three countries that are more or less ready,” WHO Regional Emergency Director Abdou Salam Gueye said on March 5.
The six countries are Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Liberia. According to Gueye, neither country is really ready to start Ebola vaccination if needed. Guinea has identified at least 18 cases of Ebola. Four of these patients have died. Guinea has started a vaccination campaign. A total of 1,604 residents there have been vaccinated.
Guinean Health Minister Remy Lamah said he was confident his country could handle the re-emergence of the Ebola outbreak. In addition to the facilities, the medical personnel there are trained and experienced in dealing with the disease.
Lamah said that in 2013, it took Guinea months to understand that they were facing an Ebola epidemic. “While this time, in less than four days, we can carry out the analysis and get the results. Our medical team is trained and experienced. We have a way to deal with this disease immediately,” Lamah told Reuters on February 15.
– .
