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DRC Ebola Outbreak 2019 Blog 2 Short History of the DRC Ebola Virus Outbreak 2019
2. A Short History of the DRC Ebola Virus Outbreak during Fall-Summer of 2018–2019
North Kivu and Ituri provinces, in the northeast of the DRC, are trading partners and share cultural ties with the countries of Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan on their eastern border. The nations of East Africa make up one of the continent’s most densely populated regions. The civil wars between countries and militias, DRC government’s human rights abuses, cholera and polio outbreaks in the region have severely weakened these northeastern provinces’ governance and public health networks.
Mining is a major economic driver of wealth and violence in this region. Some of its valuable commodities include gold, timber and tin. Columbite-tantalite, or coltan, found in abundance in North Kivu, is highly valued in international markets and is a major component in cell phones, laptops and other electronic devices. Regional violence over these lucrative commodities generated a slowdown in farming and trade, introducing corruption and starvation. A result of these conflicts is that 1.5 million refugees and internally displaced people are living in the DRC’s northeastern provinces alone. A recent spike in the price of coltan in North Kivu was believed to have sparked increased violence against civilians (10-12).
During late July 2018 an outbreak began in Mangina, a town in North Kivu province. Ebola virus was confirmed as the infectious agent. Within the first few days of August 2018, more suspected cases of Ebola virus and related deaths occurred, spreading to Ituri province on the northern border of North Kivu. Soon, the Ebola outbreak spread 30 kilometers (18 miles) eastward to Beni, a city of 230,000, and nearby Butembo with a population of 670,000 (13-15).
In August and September 2018, the DRC Ministry of Health, the WHO and their international partners mounted and executed plans to stem the outbreak. These plans included increased cross-border surveillance for cases, contact tracing to find the origin of chains of infection, use of mobile laboratories, and communities taking responsibility for education, infection control and safe, dignified burials. Thanks to a new Ebola virus vaccine, introduced after the 2014 West African Ebola virus epidemic, an Ebola vaccination campaign was successful in blunting the spread of the epidemic in the affected communities (16-17). Realizing that this outbreak had the potential of rapidly expanding, the coalition instituted a more aggressive vaccination program. By the end of September 2018, there were over 12,000 vaccinations for health care workers and those who had direct contact with Ebola virus–positive patients (18).
In early October 2018, violence broke out in the DRC’s northeastern regions, forcing a temporary halt to activities which controlled the outbreak. During this time, militias killed some migrants, health care workers and international peacekeepers. Community education, contact tracing and other activities came to a standstill. Despite continued intermittent violence by militias and elements hostile this project, public health committed organizations, communities and leaders stayed engaged, reestablishing progress in slowing the outbreak (19-21).
Three human interventions significantly slowed the epidemic. They were the underresourced and under-funded regional-international coalition led by the WHO, new rapid on-site diagnostic tools and an Ebola virus vaccine available only since the 2014 Ebola virus epidemic. Notwithstanding these highly effective tools, by the end of 2018 this outbreak became the second largest Ebola epidemic in history (22).
Copyright © 2019 Na’eem A. Abdullah All Rights Reserved
Morning fog on the African river Sangha. Congo. Sergey Uryadnikov Photographer/ Shutterstock Photos.
Many emerging infectious diseases originate in tropical ecosystems. See About Page - Sangha River.
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