Tag Archives: Ebola

AMA, Health

Burundi investigates illness that has caused five deaths

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Geneva, Switzerland, 13 April 2026- /African Media Agency (AMA)/- The health authorities in Burundi, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, are deepening investigations to determine the cause of an illness that has led to five deaths and sickened 35 people in Mpanda district in the north of the country.

Laboratory analysis has turned negative for Ebola and Marburg virus diseases, Rift Valley fever, yellow fever and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever. An alert about the undiagnosed illness was received on 31 March 2026, primarily among members of the same household and close contacts. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, blood in urine, fatigue and abdominal pain. Some severe cases have also presented with jaundice and anaemia.

“While it’s reassuring that preliminary analysis is negative for these serious infections, further investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of the disease,” said Dr Lydwine Badarahana, Burundi’s Minister of Health. “All the necessary measures are being taken to safeguard public health and prevent potential spread of infection.”

A joint team of experts from the country’s public health emergency operations centre and the national reference laboratory has been deployed to the field to support ongoing investigations.

WHO is supporting the Ministry of Health to strengthen disease surveillance, field investigation, clinical care, laboratory diagnosis and infection prevention and control, while also providing logistical support to sustain key operations. The Organization has also facilitated the shipment of samples to the National Institute of Biomedical Research in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo for further analysis.

The Ministry of Health is leading the response, working with partner organizations to coordinate joint efforts.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of World Health Organisation.

The post Burundi investigates illness that has caused five deaths appeared first on African Media Agency.

Health, Regional

Ebola resurfaces in DRC, 15 dead as WHO confirms 16th outbreak

Shaffie A Mtambo

KASAI-(MaraviPost)-The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is facing a new Ebola outbreak that has already claimed at least 15 lives including four health workers. This has sparked fear of a potential health crisis in the region.

This is the 16th time the deadly virus has resurfaced in the country, making DRC one of the most Ebola affected nations globally.

The outbreak has been detected in the Kasai region where the Ministry of Health has reported 28 suspected cases. Authorities are now conducting investigations and testing to confirm the spread.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially confirmed the outbreak and raised concerns that the number of cases and deaths could rise rapidly if urgent action is not taken.

Four of the 15 deaths were frontline health workers underlining the dangers faced by medical staff as they battle the highly infectious virus.

WHO says it is working closely with the DRC government to deploy emergency response teams. These teams will focus on treatment, health worker protection and launching public awareness campaigns to educate communities about prevention.

This latest Ebola outbreak comes just three years after the last one which claimed six lives in the DRC.

Between 2018 and 2020, the country faced one of the deadliest Ebola outbreaks in its history which killed more than 2,000 people and strained the nation’s fragile healthcare system.

Ebola was first identified in 1976 near the Ebola River in the DRC. The virus is known for its rapid spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals or animals.

Common symptoms of Ebola include high fever, severe headache, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and in advanced cases, internal and external bleeding.

Authorities have urged residents in Kasai and surrounding areas to remain vigilant and to report suspected cases immediately as health officials intensify containment efforts.

Lifestyle

WHO grapples with impact of Trump administration cuts and plans to leave UN health agency

Maravi Post Reporter

Facing one of the most serious crises in its 77-year history, the World Health Organization opened its annual meeting of government ministers and other top envoys in Geneva on Monday.

Following Trump administration funding cuts and plans to withdraw the United States from the body, the United Nations health agency has seen a plunge in its ability to carry out its sweeping mandate to promote health and keep the world safe from pandemics like COVID-19 and other outbreaks such as polio and ebola.

Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been grappling with a response to the US cuts as well as reduced outlays from other traditional Western donors who are putting more money toward defence and less toward humanitarian aid.

“Our current situation is difficult. It should not be a surprise to any of us,” he said during the opening of the meeting.

On the agenda for the nine-day World Health Assembly are two major advances intended to buttress WHO’s financial strength and bolster the world’s ability to cope with pandemics in the future.

Member countries are expected to agree to raise annual dues, known as “assessed contributions,” by 20% to support WHO finances and reduce dependency on governments’ voluntary contributions — which change each year and make up over half of the budget.

They are also expected to agree to a hard-wrought “ pandemic treaty ” aimed at avoiding any replay of the patchy, unequal response to COVID-19, should another pandemic hit.

Among other things, the treaty would guarantee that countries that share critical samples of viruses will receive any resulting tests, medicines and vaccines and give WHO up to 20% of such products to make sure poorer countries can have access to them.

Source: Africanews

https://video.euronews.com/mp4/ED/15/34/61/01/ED_PYR_1534611_20250520054710.mp4
Regional

Uganda confirms seven Ebola cases as outbreak spreads

Maravi Post Reporter
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The Ebola outbreak in Uganda is fast spreading with the country’s health ministry confirming six new cases.

Officials confirmed one case triggering the latest outbreak earlier in the week. The first case was that of a 24-year-old man who died earlier this week.

The man who died had developed a high fever, diarrhoea and abdominal pains, and was vomiting blood.

According to officials after initially being treated for malaria, he was diagnosed as having contracted the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus.

The new cases were reported in the central district of Mubende where the 24-year-old man died on Tuesday.

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“As of today, we have seven confirmed cases, of whom we have one confirmed death,” Dr Kyobe Henry Bbosa, Ebola Incident Commander at the Ugandan Ministry of Health, told a briefing.

“But also we have seven probable cases that died before the confirmation of the outbreak.”

The additional seven deaths are being investigated as suspected Ebola cases, Bbosa said.

This is the third outbreak of the Ebola Sudan strain in Uganda.

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According to health officials, over 40 people who contacted a family that reported some of the cases have been traced. Eleven of them are under isolation.

Neighbouring countries to Uganda have said they were on high alert in case the disease spread across the borders.

Health experts say the Ebola Sudan strain historically has lower levels of transmission, infections and deaths compared to the Ebola Zaire strain.

West African countries on high alert over Ebola outbreak

Source: Africafeeds.com

Source: Africa Feeds

Regional

Ivory Coast begins vaccination against Ebola

Maravi Post Reporter

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Ivory Coast has begun an Ebola vaccination programme following the confirmation of its first case since 1994.

The country’s health ministry said the family of the infected teenager and health workers involved were the first to be given the jab.

Health official Serge Ehole said that they planned to have vaccinated by Wednesday “all the 2,000 people that we consider exposed from the community, and also people from the health system and security”.

The infected teenager tested positive on Saturday after arriving in the commercial hub, Abidjan, on a bus from neighboring Guinea.

Ebola causes severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding.

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The WHO says further investigation is needed to identify the strain in Ivory Coast and determine if there is a connection between the two outbreaks.

“It is of immense concern that this outbreak has been declared in Abidjan, a metropolis of more than four million people,” said Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa.

Ivory Coast was one of six countries the WHO had supported recently to beef up Ebola readiness. “This quick diagnosis shows preparedness is paying off,” said Dr Moeti.

About 5,000 Ebola vaccines doses sent to fight the outbreak in Guinea are now being transferred to Ivory Coast.

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Between 2013 and 2016 more than 11,000 people died in the Ebola epidemic that affected Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Source: Africafeeds.com

Source: Africa Feeds

Regional

DR Congo declares end of 12th Ebola outbreak

Maravi Post Reporter

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Health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday announced an end to the latest outbreak of Ebola in that country.

It was the country’s 12 outbreak in its history with six people dying as a result of the outbreak three months ago.

Three months ago there was a resurgence of the disease in North Kivu in the country’s eastern region.

The UN’s children’s agency Unicef said in a statement that a quick response by the authorities and partners had helped contain the outbreak.

The 12th outbreak was the third to be recorded in the country in less than a year.

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Before the latest outbreak beginning on 7 February, DR Congo had announced the end of its 11th, which claimed 55 lives out of 130 cases in about six months.

The World Health Organization on Monday said in a tweet that congratulated “health authorities, health workers & communities for this effort,” in bringing the latest outbreak to an end.

In the latest outbreak,11 people became infected and six people died, according to Unicef.

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West African countries on high alert over Ebola outbreak

Source: Africafeeds.com

Source: Africa Feeds

Regional

West African countries on high alert over Ebola outbreak

Maravi Post Reporter
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Countries in West Africa have been placed on high alert to quell an outbreak of Ebola.

It follows a warning from the World Health Organization over Ebola infections in Guinea and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Guinea declared an outbreak of the virus on Sunday in the first return of the disease there since the 2013-2016 outbreak, while Congo has confirmed four new cases.

Guinea has so far recorded up to 10 suspected cases of Ebola and five deaths. Since declaring the outbreak.

The country has also identified 115 contacts of the known cases in the south-eastern city of Nzerekore and 10 in the capital Conakry.

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Seven people who attended the funeral of a nurse tested positive for the disease which resulted in three deaths.

The WHO alert was issued to Guinea’s neighbours include Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

But other West African countries including Nigeria and Ghana have also put health workers on red alert following the resurgence of Ebola epidemic in Guinea.

They are taking preventive measures to avoid the last outbreak in West Africa, which killed more than 11,300 people, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

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Among the preventive measures are intensified checks at entry points and inclusion of EVD response plans in operations of all regional and district health facilities.

China and WHO acted too slowly to contain Covid-19

Source: Africafeeds.com

Source

Regional

DR Congo declares end to recent Ebola outbreak

Maravi Post Reporter

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The Democratic Republic of Congo has again declared an end to the recent Ebola outbreak that claimed 55 lives.

The country is free from the deadly disease after more than 40 days without a case.

DR Congo’s health minister said “Congratulations to the government, health workers, responders & communities for this achievement while battling Covid-19.”

Recent outbreak of the disease was in the northwest of the country and the third in two years.

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In June this year DR Congo reported of several patients being diagnosed with the disease in Mbandaka, Equateur’s provincial capital.

The outbreak in Mbandaka emerged at a time the country was declaring an end to a different outbreak in the east of the country.

More than 2,000 people died from the disease in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces over two years.

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A World Health Organization-approved vaccine by the pharmaceutical company Merck has helped to protect some 400,000 people from the disease in DR Congo.

Congo has suffered 11 Ebola outbreaks since the virus was discovered near the Ebola River in 1976.

Zambia fights breast and cervical cancers as mortality rate surges

Source: Africafeeds.com

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Health

Ministry Of health opens isolation centers for contagious diseases

Patience Mandowa

By Alick Junior Sichali

Ministry of health (MOH) with help from the World Health Organisations (WHO) and different stakeholders has opened isolation centres where doctors will be treating people suffering from contagious diseases.

Health Minister, Atupele Muluzi disclosed this during the opening of one the built isolation centres at Kameza, Blantyre.

Muluzi said the isolation centres is one way of government’s alertness for any disease outbreaks such as Ebola and Cholera.

The health minister said the development will now enable local medical personnel to examine and provide assistance to patients suffering from strange diseases.

“The centres which we have built with help from different stakeholders including WHO will help doctors in the country through the centres treat people suffering from infectious diseases which in the past was not happening,” Muluzi said.

The isolation centres have been built in the districts of Karonga, Mzuzu, Blantyre, Dedza, Ntcheu and Mchinji.

Meanwhile, MOH says will start screening visitors from outside the countries at boarders and airports of the country.

The ministry is also working together with Malawi Defence Force (MDF) and that it has embark on exercise of screening soldiers arriving in the country from their peace keeping mission in DRC where there is Ebola outbreak.