Surveillance centre to monitor ebola outbreaks

Gabon has secured funding for a surveillance centre to monitor ebola disease in the densely forested east of the country where, ignoring government advice, people continue to eat monkey meat and run a high risk of contracting the potentially fatal virus. With the help of a US$500,000 loan from the African Development bank, the government is working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to monitor three eastern provinces which have suffered repeated outbreaks of this horrific disease over the past decade. Ebola causes internal and external bleeding which proves fatal in up to 90 percent of cases. “The project has two objectives: to reinforce the epidemic surveillance systems and out-break management, as well as the mobilisation and sensitisation of the local population,” said minister of health, Paulette Missambo. To do this, special teams will be sent to the high-risk provinces of Ogoue-Ivindo, Haut Ogooue and Ogooue-Lolo, parts of which are only accessible by canoe. They will carry out information campaigns among the local population and collect samples for laboratory testing. Ebola is a virulent virus affecting humans and large primates. It passes from human to human through the exchange of bodily fluids. It is not known how the virus first appears in humans, although scientists have hypothesised that the first case was linked to contact with an infected animal – perhaps through eating its meat. Bushmeat, including chimpanzee and gorilla and various types of monkey, has traditionally been important source of protein for the residents of the small, scattered communities near the eastern border with Congo-Brazzaville. The last ebola outbreak in Gabon occurred in this region between November 2001 and June 2002 and resulted in the death of 80 people. However, the government is concerned that further cases of the disease could enter Gabon from the Congo. In November 2003, 11 ebola deaths were confirmed in northwest Congo, 60 km from the Gabon border. Many people there live a nomadic lifestyle, crossing freely between the two countries, so there are fears that the disease could easily resurface in Gabon. Gabon already has the only ebola testing centre in Central Africa. This is located at the International Medical Research Centre (CIRM) in the southern town of Franceville.