Six deaths and two recoveries: this is the assessment of a month of fight against an outbreak of Ebola in the region of Béni, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the vaccine and two drugs made it possible to stop the spread of the virus.
In total, only eight patients were identified for 489 contact cases followed by response teams out of "573 contacts identified" from early October to early November, explains Dr Michel Kasereka, chief medical officer of the Beni health zone, in the province. eastern North Kivu.
A thousand doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV anti-Ebola vaccine delivered to the area five days after the appearance of the first case, made it possible to interrupt the chain of transmission, playing the role of "protective firewall around the cases" recorded, explains an expert from the national control committee who coordinates daily response activities in the field. In detail, the vaccine was able to contain the disease to only eight contaminations and new drugs have saved two lives by curing two patients. Of the eight confirmed patients, the six deaths are those of six children who were not taken "on time" to the Ebola Treatment Centers (CTE).
The same strategy had been tested against the previous Ebola epidemic in Beni between February and May, during which hundreds of people had been vaccinated and only 12 cases recorded, including six deaths.
A success, compared to the strongest outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the history of the DRC, which infected 3,470 people and killed 2,287 between August 2018 and June 2020. And according to this expert, who requested anonymity, “ large-scale spread is no longer to be feared "because" many people are immunized against Ebola thanks to the vaccination campaigns carried out recently in the area ", even if it will take several weeks" to draw definitive conclusions ".
"Miraculous molecules"
“Me and my wife were treated with tablets, injections and infusions. We did not know that we were treated for Ebola virus disease, ”testifies the husband of the couple who recovered. "If we had known, our child was not going to die", explains in tears this man, father of the first identified case, a one year old infant who succumbed.
Two treatments, approved at the end of 2020 by the American Medicines Agency (FDA), enabled him and his wife to heal: REGN-EB3, a cocktail of three monoclonal antibodies, and mAb114, a monoclonal antibody marketed under the Ebanga brand.
Already used in the previous outbreak, these two treatments were considered 90% effective by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“When a person arrives at an Ebola treatment center on time, survival is guaranteed.
These are real miraculous molecules against the Ebola virus disease, ”says the expert in charge of the fight against this disease in the DRC.
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In Beni, however, the population does not understand why, during this 13th epidemic declared on October 8, no hand washing device was visible at the entrances to the city, as was the case previously.
Nor why no temperature readings, or awareness campaigns were carried out.
“We are not yet at the end of the tunnel.
We have to make sure that no one has escaped our investigation, ”continues Dr Kasereka.
"If this happens, it must be isolated quickly, samples must be taken and if the contamination is confirmed, it should benefit from a specific treatment which already exists and whose effectiveness has been demonstrated".