A vaccine and two drugs have enabled the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to stop the spread of the Ebola virus.
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WHO
Six deaths and two recoveries: this is the assessment of a month of fight against an outbreak of Ebola in the region of Béni, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the vaccine and two drugs made it possible to stop the spread of the virus. In total, only eight patients were identified for 489 contact cases followed by response teams on “573 contacts identified “ from early October to early November, explains Dr Michel Kasereka, chief medical officer of the Beni health zone, in the eastern province of North Kivu.
One thousand doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV anti-Ebola vaccine delivered to the area five days after the appearance of the first case, made it possible to interrupt the chain of transmission, playing the role of “protective firewall around cases” recorded, explains an expert from the national control committee, which coordinates response activities in the field on a daily basis.
The epidemic is no longer to be feared
The same strategy had been tested against the previous Ebola epidemic in Beni between February and May, during which hundreds of people had been vaccinated and only 12 cases recorded, including six deaths. A success, compared to the strongest outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the history of the DRC, which infected 3,470 people and killed 2,287 between August 2018 and June 2020.
And according to this expert, who requested anonymity, “large-scale propagation is no longer to be feared” car “many people are immune to Ebola thanks to recent vaccination campaigns in the area”, even if it will take several weeks “to draw definitive conclusions”.
The vaccine was able to contain the disease to only eight contaminations and new drugs have saved two lives by curing two patients. Of the eight confirmed patients, the six deaths are those of six children who were not taken “on time“in Ebola Treatment Centers (CTE).
“Miraculous molecules”
“Me and my wife were being treated with pills, injections and infusions. We didn’t know we were being treated for Ebola virus disease.”, testifies the husband of the couple having healed. Two treatments, approved at the end of 2020 by the US Medicines Agency (FDA), enabled him and his wife to heal: REGN-EB3, a cocktail of three monoclonal antibodies, and mAb114, a monoclonal antibody marketed under the Ebanga brand.
“If we had known, our child was not going to die”, explains in tears this man, father of the first identified case, a one year old infant who succumbed.
Already used in the previous outbreak, these two treatments were considered 90% effective by the World Health Organization (WHO). “When a person arrives at an Ebola treatment center on time, survival is guaranteed. They are true miraculous molecules against Ebola virus disease.”, says the expert in charge of the fight against this disease in the DRC.
In Beni, however, the population does not understand why, during this 13th epidemic declared on October 8, no hand washing device was visible at the entrances to the city, as was the case previously. Nor why no temperature readings or awareness campaigns were carried out there. “We are not yet at the end of the tunnel. We must make sure that no one has escaped our investigation.”, continues Dr Kasereka.
“If this happens, it must be isolated quickly, samples must be taken and if the contamination is confirmed, it should benefit from a specific treatment which already exists and whose effectiveness has been demonstrated”.
Source: AFP
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