Guinea confirms Ebola outbreak

Guinea, the West-African nation on Sunday, has officially declared that it is dealing with an Ebola outbreak. It confirmed three infected people's deaths. A devastating Ebola epidemic had taken over the country during 2013-2016 resulting in the deaths of 11,300 people. Since then, this is the first time the disease has been reported.

Initial investigations found that a nurse from a local health facility was the first victim of the virus, spreading to six people who attended her funeral.

In order to identify the strain of the Ebola virus, samples of the confirmed cases have been sent to the Institute Pasteur in Senegal for full genome sequencing.

Ebola spreads to humans from infected animals like chimpanzees, fruit bats, forest bats and other non-domesticated animals hunted for food. The virus infection symptoms include sudden fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, exhaustion, muscle pain, internal and external bleeding, sore throat, etc. Infected people tend to die from multiple organ failures and dehydration.

"It's a huge concern to see the resurgence of Ebola in Guinea, a country that has already suffered so much from the disease. However, banking on the expertise and experience built during the previous outbreak, health teams in Guinea are on the move to quickly trace the path of the virus and curb further infections," said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa.

He also added that WHO is offering its full support in setting up testing, contact-tracing and treatment structures including access to vaccines.

Today, the WHO has alerted six African countries to look for potential infection of the Ebola virus after the resurgence of the Ebola epidemic has been reported in Guinea.

"We have already alerted the six countries around, including of course Sierra Leone and Liberia, and they are moving very fast to prepare and be ready and to look for any potential infection," the WHO's Margaret Harris told a Geneva briefing.