Ebola outbreak in Koinadugu, Sierra Leone, prompts call for help from chief
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Ebola in Koinadugu
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November 2014 – AFRICA - The
leader of a remote chiefdom in Sierra Leone has called for urgent help
to contain Ebola, which is causing fear and panic in his community. The
fresh outbreak of Ebola in Koinadugu, a district previously unaffected
by the virus, has affected more than 60 people in a small chiefdom close
to Guinea, the Red Cross has said. The head of Sierra Leone’s Red Cross
team, John Mara, told the Guardian that at least 25 people had died and
38 people were believed to be infected after lab results proved
positive for 15 more patients. Two of those buried had died on Tuesday,
including a seven-year-old girl. Koinadugu had prided itself on being
the only district in Sierra Leone to have been Ebola-free after local
chiefs imposed a quarantine, barring travel and creating a system of
official distribution vans and trucks to help farmers and traders get
their product to neighboring markets. However, after two unexplained
deaths in October were investigated, it emerged that Ebola had reached
the chiefdom of Nenei and its three villages of Fankuya, Sumbaria and
Kumala. The Red Cross met chief Foday Jalloh, the paramount or head
chief of Nenei, to get his permission to enter the region to help the
community, where traditional burial practices and medical therapies may
have contributed to the spread of the virus. Jalloh said: “Please help
us, we need your help and support.”
Mara, who is from the area, said: “We
discovered there had been 25 deaths already, some of them unexplained.
Prior to this, the district went six months without Ebola. On 15 October
there were two cases of unidentified deaths. The situation is not
really good because we have just got the results that show there are 15
new cases, on top of 23 we already knew about.” A Red Cross spokesman
said it sent two burial teams to help local volunteers. However, the
rugged terrain is making access difficult. “It’s about five hours’ drive
to the district Kabala and then another five hours to the Nenie
chiefdom. Our Toyota Land Cruiser got stuck twice yesterday on creeks
and streams. Sometimes the bridge is just two logs for the right-hand
and left-hand-side wheels,” he said. He said there was evidence the
infection rate had dropped significantly in Kailahun, where the burial
teams had come from. It was at the centre of the first outbreak in June
and the site of the first field hospital erected by Médecins sans
Frontières. “There were about 400 new cases a week in the peak in
August. It has come down to five or 10 in the last few days,” said the
spokesman. An estimated 50-70% of infections emanate from funerals, when
highly contagious corpses have been washed in a traditional manner by
friends and family. The Red Cross said education and community training
about the dangers of traditional burial practices in Kailahun and
Kenema, a nearby commercial hub, appeared to be paying off. “But we need
to have zero new cases for 21 days before we can say it is clear of
Ebola and all it takes is one case for it to start again,” said the
spokesman. –Guardian
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