The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the ongoing militia violence in Democratic Republic of Congo is threatening the fight against the deadly Ebola outbreak.
It says militia violence has prevented aid workers from reaching people who may have been infected by the virus.
So far the outbreak in the North Kivu and neighboring Ituri province has killed 47 people.
The experimental mAb114 Ebola treatment is being used for the first time as the deadly virus continues to spread.
But efforts to reach those in dire need of the treatment has been hampered.
On Friday WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told a news briefing in Geneva that things are not looking good for efforts to contain the virus.
“We don’t know if we are having all transmission chains identified. We expect to see more cases as a result of earlier infections and these infections developing into illness.”
“The worst-case scenario is that we have these security blind spots where the epidemic could take hold that we don’t know about,” he said.
The WHO says it was worried about the scale of the outbreak. That is largely due to the state of insecurity and displacement among the populace in parts of the areas hit by the outbreak.
Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “I was really worried because of the different nature of the outbreak.”
He adds that “after the visit I am actually more worried because of what we have observed there first hand.”
Ebola leads to internal and external bleeding which can cause damage done to blood vessels.
The virus which is transmitted by bats was first discovered in DRC in 1976 and named after the Ebola river.
Source: Africafeeds.com
