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Updated August 17th, 2021 at 17:10 IST

Health workers jabbed in IC, after positive Ebola case

Ivory Coast has started vaccinating health workers against the Ebola virus on Monday, following the announcement that a woman had tested positive for the disease in the capital.

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Ivory Coast has started vaccinating health workers against the Ebola virus on Monday, following the announcement that a woman had tested positive for the disease in the capital.

At the University Hospital of Cocody, health workers were given their jab.

Meanwhile staff in personal protective equipment sprayed disinfectant on walls and surfaces in an effort to combat the spread of the disease.

The 18-year-old Guinean woman who tested positive for Ebola is now undergoing treatment in Abidjan.

She arrived Thursday by bus from Guinea, raising fears that others may have become infected during her journey.

At a press briefing Monday, Ivorian Health Minister Pierre N'Gou Demba warned the disease is "highly contagious and epidemic", as he urged people to get on board with infection prevention measures.

According to the World Health Organization, in addition to the confirmed case, one suspected case and nine contacts have been identified.

Around 5000 Ebola vaccine doses have been sent from Guinea to the Ivory Coast, the WHO said in a statement,

This includes 2000 doses from Merck that will be used on those who have come into contact with a confirmed Ebola patient, or who are first responders or health workers. A further 3000 doses manufactured by Johnson & Johnson will also be administered in areas not experiencing active transmission.

The new case marks the first time since the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic that an outbreak has erupted in a city as large as Abidjan. It is the first outbreak in the Ivory Coast since 1994.

The area where the young woman began her journey in north-central Guinea is over 760 kilometers (472 miles) from Gouecke, where this year's earlier Ebola outbreak took place.

“Further investigation and genomic sequencing will identify the strain and determine if there is a connection between the two outbreaks,” WHO said Saturday.

Ebola is transmitted by coming into contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials. However, the early symptoms of fever and muscle aches resembles other common diseases like malaria.

In the years since the 2014-16 West African epidemic, two vaccines and new treatments have been developed to treat the hemorrhagic fever that once killed more than half its victims. Those tools helped to end outbreaks in Congo and another in Guinea this year.

 

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Published August 17th, 2021 at 17:10 IST

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