By Rhea Rose Abraham
May 31 (Reuters) – Four nurses who were being treated for Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus have been discharged from a hospital in Bunia in the Democratic Republic of Congo after recovering from the disease, the World Health Organization said on Sunday.
More recoveries are expected, especially when people are diagnosed early and able to access care, and as the response to the outbreak intensifies.
A laboratory worker had also recovered earlier this week, the agency said, bringing the total number of people who have recovered from the virus to five.
The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the country has increased to 282, with 42 deaths, after 19 new positive test results were recorded, according to data distributed by the communications ministry.
Earlier this month the WHO declared the outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo version of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern, although it does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, while on a Saturday visit to Bunia — the capital of the eastern Congolese province of Ituri — noted that although there currently is no licensed vaccine or treatment for Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus, “it is not without hope,” as it can be survived with good medical care.
SUSPECTED CASES OUTSIDE AFRICA
The outbreak — the 17th in Congo and the third-largest since Ebola was discovered half a century ago — is outpacing the global response, which got off to a late start.
“The risk of regional spread is already happening,” Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an FT op-ed published on Sunday that said that over 1,100 suspected cases are being investigated.
In Brazil, two suspected cases of Ebola were cleared after both patients with related symptoms tested negative for the virus, local authorities said on Monday.
No genetic material of Ebola was found in the testing of a 37-year-old man in Sao Paulo state who came from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and who had tested positive for meningitis.
In Rio de Janeiro, a patient who had recently traveled to Uganda also tested negative for Ebola after testing positive for malaria.
In Italy, protocols for a suspected case of Ebola were triggered in Sardinia’s capital, Cagliari, for a man who had flown back from Congo on Saturday with some symptoms, but the health ministry said early on Monday that he had tested negative.
“We confirm that the risk (of Ebola) in Italy remains very low,” the ministry said.
(Reporting by Chandni Shah and Rhea Rose Abraham in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Alvise Armellini in Rome and Andre Romani in Sao Paulo; editing by Barbara Lewis, Bill Berkrot, Stephen Coates and Deepa Babington)
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