In the Congo, Ebola patients are fleeing hospitals en masse – Bloomberg
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, more than 150 cases have been reported of patients with confirmed or suspected Ebola escaping from treatment centers and isolation zones due to an acute food shortage.
In particular, in the city of Bambu, 11 people fled a medical facility, complaining of inadequate food supplies, which poses a high risk of uncontrolled spread of the infection among the population.
The situation is compounded by the fact that the eastern regions of the country have long been plagued by armed conflict, and approximately 10 million local residents are suffering from chronic hunger.
Currently, about 6,400 close contacts are under medical supervision; due to quarantine, they have lost the ability to work and provide for their families. Since the traditional Congolese practice of having relatives provide food for the sick has been blocked by strict isolation measures, the UN World Food Programme has begun urgently delivering hot meals and food kits to medical centers. Representatives of humanitarian organizations emphasize that without adequate food supplies for patients, it will be impossible to stop this Ebola outbreak, which has already claimed the lives of more than a quarter of those infected.
This was reported by Bloomberg.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced his intention to make an urgent visit to the city of Bunia, located in the Congolese province of Ituri. This region has become the epicenter of yet another dangerous Ebola outbreak.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has recorded its 17th Ebola outbreak, which has already claimed the lives of 80 people. This time, the disease was likely caused by the little-studied Bundibugyo ebolavirus strain, rather than the more common Zaire ebolavirus.
Ethiopia has reported its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, which is clinically similar to Ebola. The pathogen is capable of spreading rapidly, but there are no vaccines against it.
