Liberia Ebola Deaths Pass 20

Latest report confirmed by the Ministry of Health and social Welfare has revealed that the density populated district of New Kru Town has been struck by the deadly Ebola virus.

Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah told The Associated Press that brings to 16 the number of people believed to have died from the virus in the West African country. Four of the deaths were confirmed by tests to be Ebola, he said.

Also, Deputy Health Minister and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Beernice Dahn, told reporters that laboratory results confirmed the four of the deaths were Ebola-related, while one of the victims is still alive in isolation. “The seven cases include an index case and seven contacts connected to the index case,” she pointed out.

The Chief Medical Officer further disclosed that the one index case was a female who travelled from Kailahun District in Sierra Leone and settled in the Nyuan Panton Community, New Kru Town with family members where she felt sick and later died.

She said over 60 Red Cross volunteers are being trained and will be deployed in various communities in New Kru Town and other parts of Monrovia in order to enhance contact tracing to ensure that those who came in contact with the patients are located and closely observed for signs and symptoms of the disease.

Minister Dahn said the Ministry of Health field team is holding regular meetings with opinion leaders, including the House of Representatives, governors, chiefs, religious and traditional leaders, encouraging them to cooperate with “contact” tracing by helping to locate contacts and to follow instructions from health workers in order to avoid the spread of the virus. The Chief Medical Officer also disclosed that there are reports of fresh cases of Ebola outbreak in Foya, Lofa County.

She is urging the general public to remain calm and to go about their normal businesses as all is being done by government to curtail the spread of the disease.

She, however, called on Liberians to avoid contact with infected persons and ensure that individuals, who died or were suspected to have died from Ebola, are immediately buried under the supervision of health workers to ensure safety.

Minister Dahn also warned family members of persons who were suspected to have died from the disease, to avoid direct contact with the bodies of Ebola victims, especially their body fluids so as to prevent the rapid spread of the virus to other communities.

She also urged Liberians to avoid eating bush meat and to constantly chlorinate their water before drinking it as well as to regularly wash their hands before and after eating as a way of preventing the spread of the Ebola virus.

Since the outbreak f the deadly virus in Liberia, originating from neighboring Guinea, few months ago, the disease has so far claimed the lives of 17 of the 31 people who were reported to have been infected.

The deaths, recorded since June 8, are worrying because no new cases had been confirmed in Liberia in about two months. Nyenswah said the new wave of cases was believed to have begun on May 30. The virus, which causes severe bleeding and high fevers, has continued to ravage neighboring Guinea in that time and has spread to Sierra Leone.

"The first phase of the epidemic was contained," said Nyenswah. "But because of proximity to Guinea and Sierra Leone, we did not declare outbreak over."

Other officials have previously downplayed the significance of the virus jumping borders, saying that it is to be expected since people travel and trade frequently across the borders of the three countries.

One of the seven deaths was a woman who had recently traveled from an infected area in Sierra Leone and is believed to have passed the disease on to others in the house where she was staying in Monrovia.

Fear of the disease, which has no known cure, appears to have helped its spread. There have been several reports of relatives taking sick loved ones out of isolation wards; that makes the work of stopping the disease's spread harder.

The outbreak appears to have begun in neighboring Guinea, where the vast majority of the cases and deaths have been recorded. In all, the World Health Organization says nearly 250 people have died of the virus, which causes severe bleeding and high fever. There is no vaccine and no known cure, although proper care can increase the survival rate.