Exhausted health workers in Congo struggle to keep up as Ebola outpaces contact tracing
WHO said 60% to 70% of new cases are being found outside contact tracing as unpaid health workers struggle to keep up.
- The World Health Organization reported Thursday that Ebola transmission in Congo is outpacing detection, with authorities confirming 4,449 cases and 2,061 deaths as of Tuesday, a 46 per cent fatality rate.
- Surveillance systems are failing because 60% to 70% of new cases are detected only after patients become symptomatic. Insecurity and displacement linked to mining and armed conflict force population movements before contact-tracing teams can respond.
- Eastern Congo's Ituri province accounts for roughly 90 per cent of cases and 80 per cent of deaths. U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher announced $30.5 million in emergency funding Friday to bolster response efforts.
- Health worker Gédéon Banga Ngbape faces strikes over unpaid salaries and threats from rebel groups while working 8 a.m. to around 11 p.m. daily. "The challenges are enormous," Ngbape said.
- Better tracing alone will not turn the epidemic around until case detection outpaces transmission. The WHO urged reliance on local leaders and trusted community networks to improve cooperation and safe burials.
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Associated Press News
Exhausted health workers in Congo struggle to keep up as Ebola outpaces contact tracing
Gédéon Banga Ngbape and his team of community health workers are laboring tirelessly in eastern Congo to track the country’s fastest-growing Ebola outbreak.
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