ProMED Disease Outbreak Update

Ebola outbreak in DRC, Rift Valley Fever in Mayotte, and Lassa Fever in Nigeria

Information available within this Disease Outbreak Update is produced by Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED).

Ebola

Location: Democratic Republic of Congo, North Kivu and Ituri provinces

Disease Update

The epidemiological situation of the Ebola virus disease, dated 26 Apr 2019:

Since the beginning of the epidemic, the cumulative number of cases is 1417, of which 1351 are confirmed and 66 are probable.

In total, there were 914 deaths (848 confirmed and 66 probable) and 405 people healed.
 

• 234 suspected cases under investigation
• 21 new confirmed cases, including 8 in Katwa, 6 in Butembo, 2 in Beni, 2 in Musienene, 1 in Mandima, 1 in Biena and 1 in Mabalako;
• 14 new confirmed deaths, including 7 community deaths, including 4 in Katwa, 1 in Musienene, 1 in Biena and 1 in Butembo; 7 CTE deaths, including 3 from Butembo, 2 from Katwa and 2 from Mabalako;
• 11 new healed CTE survivors, including 7 in Katwa and 4 in Butembo.

See more on WHO's Dashboard
 

Outbreak Response

On Sat 27 Apr 2019, the Head of State, Felix Tshisekedi, chaired a meeting on the Response to the Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic underway in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri. Several members of the government were invited to this important meeting.

Since the beginning of the vaccination on 8 Aug 2018, 106 239 people have been vaccinated.

Find out more in this ProMED post

 

Lassa Fever

Location: Nigeria

Disease Update

In the reporting week 16 (15-21 Apr 2019) 6 new confirmed Lassa fever cases were reported from 4 states -- Edo (2), Ondo (2), Taraba (1) and Kebbi (1) states with one new death in Kebbi state.

From 1 Jan-21 Apr, 2019, a total of 2289 suspected cases have been reported from 21 states. Of these, 546 were confirmed positive, 15 probable and 1728 negative (not a case).

Since the onset of the 2019 outbreak, there have been 123 deaths in confirmed cases. Case fatality ratio in confirmed cases is 22.5%

Predominant age-group affected is 21-40 years . The male to female ratio for confirmed cases is 1.2:1.

Transmission of Lassa virus occurs when individuals are in contact with rodent reservoir hosts' excreta or are within healthcare facilities. It would be interesting to know whether the prevalence of Lassa fever virus has been increasing in populations of rodent hosts in areas where human cases are occurring.
 

Outbreak Response

National Lassa fever multi-partner, multi-sectoral Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) continues to coordinate the response activities at all levels.

Find out more in this ProMED post

 

Rift Valley Fever

Location: Mayotte

Disease Update

The circulation of Rift Valley fever (RVF) continues on the island of Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean.

Since the beginning of the epidemic (end of November 2018), samples collected by veterinarians from sick animals have identified 109 foci of sick animals, mainly located in the center and northwest of the island.

The CHM (Mayotte Hospital Center) laboratory reported 126 human cases of RVF from their monitoring and health emergencies platform.

After a steady decline in cases during the last 3 weeks of March 2019, a new increase in cases has been observed. Since the beginning of the health alert, human cases have remained mainly in the center and northwest of the island. RVF in animals is, most likely, the source of human infection. Mayotte's 4000 farms keep 20000 cattle and 150000 small animals.
 

Outbreak Response

The prefecture of Mayotte, in collaboration with the ARS OI [The Indian Ocean Health Agency] and the Directorate of Food, Agriculture and Forestry of Mayotte (DAAF), has highlighted the importance of preventive measures against the disease.

Find out more in this ProMED post


Information available within this Disease Outbreak Update is produced by Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED).

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