Congolese no longer kiss as Ebola Virus seems to spread
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Congolese no longer kiss as Ebola Virus seems to spread*
20 Sep 2007 16:40:50 GMT
Source: Reuters
KINSHASA, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Villagers don't kiss anymore in a corner
of Democratic Republic of Congo hit by the deadly and highly contagious
Ebola virus.
People began falling ill in April in Kampungu, Western Kasai province,
centre of an outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever that has no cure or
treatment and kills 50-90 percent of its victims.
There have been 385 suspected cases of the disease, and 174 have died,
though only a handful of cases have been confirmed.
"People no longer kiss each other when they meet. They don't even shake
hands," Antoine Bushambu told Reuters by phone from the town of Mweka,
around 60 km (37.5 miles) from Kampungu.
"Those are the instructions the doctors have given to the population.
There's been a big change in behaviour," said Bushambu, who works for a
Congolese human rights organisation.
In the past week, several suspect cases have been reported in Kananga,
the capital of Western Kasai. The provincial health minister of
neighbouring Eastern Kasai said on Thursday four more cases had been
discovered there, raising fears the outbreak may be spreading beyond its
rural confines.
But health officials suspect many deaths may be due to other illnesses
like typhoid or Shigella, a bacterial infection.
"So far we have only nine confirmed cases of Ebola, but we don't really
know about the rest. We want to have the correct origins of those
illnesses," said Christiana Salvi, a spokeswoman for the U.N. World
Health Organisation (WHO).
PUBLIC EDUCATION
Without reliable information -- something the WHO hopes will change with
the arrival of a high-tech mobile laboratory this weekend -- health
workers are struggling to staunch panic.
"There's been no public education or health education. The concept of
disease in these places is so far away from the clinical one," Josep
Prior, head of Doctors without Borders (MSF) mission in Congo, told Reuters.
"This is the difference between families hiding patients and people
coming in for treatment ... It's extremely important."
Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with blood, body fluids and
tissues of infected people. Towards the latter stages, victims become
highly contagious and the disease can even be transferred through
contact with bodies of the dead.
When a major Ebola outbreak hit the town of Kikwit in neighbouring
Bandundu province in 1995, killing 250 people, many people are believed
to have caught it during the traditional funeral rite of washing
corpses, which led to entire families being wiped out despite awareness
campaigns.
Health officials hope this time things will be different.
Congo's health ministry has begun circulating leaflets and posters in
several languages, and airing radio and television adverts. Actors are
even touring remote villages staging plays that warn of the dangers of
Ebola.
"At least it show that people know what's going on and aware of the
risks," Salvi said.
A quarantine zone is in place and officials say the disease is largely
contained in Kampungu and nearby Luebo village.
But Bushambu said people miles away in Mweka are not taking any chances
and age-old village traditions are changing.
"There are even those who bring their own cups to places where they
drink palm wine. Before they used to share," he said.