コンゴ、エボラで４人死亡　感染対策に住民反発

【ゴマＡＦＰ＝時事】コンゴ民主共和国当局は21日、エボラ出血熱の新たな集団発生により、4人が死亡したと明らかにした。当局は人々が感染力が高いエボラウイルスの感染防止対策に従っていないと警告を発した。（写真は資料写真）
　コンゴ東部の北キブ州の保健相はＡＦＰに対し、今月のエボラ感染再拡大により、「すでに６人の感染を確認した。感染者４人が死亡した」と明らかにした。
　保健相は、同州地域の住民は新たな集団発生を真剣に受け止めていないとし、「自宅の消毒や安全かつ尊厳ある葬儀の実施を断固拒否する家族もいる」と指摘。「人々はエボラが再発したことをまだ理解していない。彼らにとって、全ては不明瞭なままだ」と述べた。ワクチン接種計画は今月１５日に始まったが、過去の流行時と同様、人々はエボラ出血熱の存在を疑い、病気にかかった人を触らない、遺体を洗わないなどの感染防止対策を拒否している。
　コンゴでは２０１８年８月１日に１０度目のエボラ出血熱流行が確認され、武力紛争とエボラ対策への反発により状況が悪化したが、昨年６月２５日、ようやく流行の収束が宣言されていた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/02/22-12:08）

Four people have died from the hemorrhagic Ebola virus during a new outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said Sunday, warning that people are resisting measures to contain the highly contagious disease.
Since the epidemic's resurgence this month, we have already registered six Ebola cases. We have lost four infected people, Eugene Syalita, the provincial health minister in North Kivu province in the DRC's east, told AFP.
Syalita said one person died Friday and another on Saturday, while the two others died in early February.
Two patients are receiving care at an Ebola treatment centre in Katwa near the major city of Butembo, he added.
Syalita complained that the region's residents were not taking the new outbreak seriously enough.
Some families categorically refuse to have their homes disinfected or to hold dignified and safe funerals, the doctor said.
People have not yet understood that Ebola has reappeared. Everything is not yet clear for them.
A vaccination drive was launched last Monday, but as with past outbreaks, people in the region doubt the existence of Ebola and reject measures aimed at checking its spread, including not to touch sick people and not to wash the dead.
The 10th epidemic, which was declared on August 1, 2018, was finally eradicated on June 25 last year after being exacerbated by ongoing armed conflicts and resistance to anti-Ebola measures.
With more than 2,200 deaths recorded, it is considered the most serious in the history of Ebola in the DRC since the scourge fist appeared in 1976, named after a river in the former Belgian colony, which was known as Zaire at the time.
An 11th outbreak of the virus, which is believed to reside in bats, was declared over in November after claiming 55 lives in the northwestern province of Equateur.
- Outbreak in Guinea, too -
Ebola causes severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding. It is transmitted through close contact with bodily fluids, and people who live with or care for patients are most at risk.
Funeral practices often include washing, touching and kissing bodies that are still capable of transmitting Ebola, and may have particularly high levels of the live virus in excretions.
The virus has also resurfaced in Guinea, where it has already killed five people in the first outbreak in West Africa since a 2013-16 epidemic that left more than 11,300 people dead in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The United States last week said it would work with the affected governments and the World Health Organization over the outbreaks.
The world cannot afford to turn the other way. We must do everything in our power to respond quickly, effectively, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.