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- The DRC has a stockpile of 1 000 Ebola vaccines and 200 will be dispatched to an area affected by the virus.
- The WHO has already put surveillance measures in place covering at least 160 people.
- New Ebola vaccines are 26 to 40% effective and are a huge advancement in dealing with the killer disease.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are closely monitoring 160 people who were in contact with a confirmed Ebola case.
On Sunday, the WHO said there had been a suspected case of a 46-year-old woman who died in North Kivu on 15 August.
Results on Monday confirmed it was an Ebola case, marking the DRC's 15th outbreak since the discovery of the zoonotic disease in 1976 near the Ebola River.
The previous outbreak in June, which lasted two months, ended after five cases were reported from two health zones which had a 100% mortality rate.
An all-familiar route but with a worrying reoccurrence, the WHO has vowed to end the outbreak as soon as possible.
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"Ebola resurgences are occurring with greater frequency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which is concerning.
"However, health authorities in North Kivu have successfully stopped several Ebola flare-ups and building on this expertise will no doubt bring this one under control quickly," said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO's regional director for Africa.
For now, 160 contacts are being closely monitored.
Investigations are ongoing to determine the vaccination status of the confirmed case.
The WHO said it was sitting on 1 000 doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine and 200 will be sent to the affected area this week.
It intends vaccinating slightly above the number of people they are contact tracing.
This would be done through "ring-vaccination, where contacts and contacts of contacts are vaccinated to curb the spread of the virus and protect lives", the WHO added
The current case is believed to be linked to the 13th outbreak which ended in December last year in North Kivu's Beni area.
The outbreak ended after 11 cases - eight confirmed, and three probables, including six deaths, were reported.
Mass vaccination key
The WHO said the two vaccines currently in circulation were highly effective in averting death.
In its notice issued on Friday, it recommended using two monoclonal antibodies, mAb114, also known as Ansuvimab or Ebanga, and REGN-EB3, or Inmazeb.
This because "studies had showed that the two treatments significantly reduced mortality", said the head of the WHO's health emergencies programme, Janet Diaz, at a press conference in Geneva.
For every thousand people, the vaccines can save between 260 to 400 from death.
The worst outbreak in the DRC killed 2 280 people between 2018 and 2020.
In West Africa, Ebola killed more than 11 300 people between 2013 and 2016.The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
