It was difficult to track the cases of the disease when it was in the east of the country. There was a steady flow of people moving back and forth across the border with Uganda and others hiding sick family members in their homes because they were afraid of the authorities. Health officials had difficulty isolating sick people while they waited for test results because it took at least a week.
It took two years for the outbreak to be brought under control.
The D.R.C. was in danger last September. A family in North Kivu Province fell sick with a variety of illnesses. Their neighbors got sick as well.
After the outbreak, the D.R.C. put in place a number of steps. Health workers traced 50 contacts of the families after the patients were tested and the cases were confirmed as an outbreak of the disease.
They stopped anyone with symptoms of the disease from entering the country by screening them at the border posts. In the wake of the previous outbreak, local labs tested more than 1,700 blood samples.
This time, the death toll from the disease was 11.
We lost a lot of people in the past, but we kept 11 deaths.
You might not have heard that story. You probably didn't know that a doctor and her colleagues stopped in southern India last year to deal with an outbreak of a deadly disease There was an outbreak of the disease that could have affected nomadic communities in the country. After a few children died, public health officials made sure it was under control.
Over the last couple of years, the headlines and social feeds have been dominated by infectious diseases. There was Covid, as well as mpox and other diseases. After a dozen more outbreaks flickered, they were snuffed out. We have learned a lot about how to do this and sometimes we get it right.
Six disasters were documented in a report by Resolve to Save Lives. The D.R.C., for example, has some of the most fragile health systems on the planet.
The interventions that helped prevent the six Pandemics were unglamorous and focused on building trust in the local health system. Local staff should be trained in how to report suspected problems. To make sure funds are available quickly, to deploy contact tracers or to immunize a village against the disease. Lab capacity is increasing in areas other than the main urban centers. Everyone should move quickly at the first sign of danger.
According to Tom Frieden, the chief executive of Resolve, breaks don't occur because of a single failure, but because of a series of failures. There are a number of barriers that prevent epidemics from occurring.
Having local health officials in each community trained in the response was one of the steps that made a difference in shutting down the outbreak. The Kivu region has experienced decades of armed conflict and has a constant threat of displacement. When people were told they would have to leave their land, they thought it was a trick to get them to leave.
He said that in the past it was always people from the capital city. People were more willing to listen and be tested because of the instructions from trusted sources.
Local people were trained to take control of their own affairs.
The setting up of laboratories in the region made it possible for people suspected of having the disease to be tested in a day or two.
The head of emergency medicine at a hospital in southern India led the response to an outbreak of a disease caused by fruit bats. A young nurse who cared for the first victims died of the disease.
The doctor said it was frightening. The hospital staff was given a crash course in intensive infection control, which seemed so foreign in the pre- Covid era. The nurses were upset over the death of their colleague.
The bat breeding season passed without any infections in 2021. A boy with a high temperature was brought to a clinic by his parents. He was sent to the next clinic and then to a third one where he tested negative for Covid.
The child had developed an illness. A sample was sent to the lab. This was a new case of the disease. The child could have exposed a lot of people.
The system Dr. Chandni and her colleagues put in place after the outbreak was put in place. She kept the public alert for people who may be ill and away from bats and their droppings, which litter coconut groves where children play. teams were sent to catch bats Everyone who came in contact with the sick boy was put into a 21-day quark.
She said that everyone, including ambulance drivers, elevator operators and security guards, knew how to not spread it.
Dr. McLelland is the Epidemic Prevention leader at Resolve.
She told me that she was afraid of disaster when she heard about the new cases of the disease. By the time the outbreak was declared over two years later, it had spread to two other countries and resulted in over 11,000 deaths.
Although it was struggling to respond to Covid, it was able to bring the outbreak to a halt with just 11 deaths.
Dr. McLelland said that it was a great example of learning and investing.
She said that it should be celebrated. Public health failures, such as those in the face of Covid, receive a lot of attention.
A new outbreak of the disease is being brought under control in Uganda and neighboring nations are watching it closely. Uganda has a strong public health system with a track record of detecting and responding to infectious diseases.
There is an unfortunate harvest of Covid. He said that covid broke a lot of things. Health care worker resilience, willingness to follow public health advice, and trust in the health care system were all broken by it. There is progress, but it is also fragile.
Even if the D.R.C. were to get an outbreak of the disease from Uganda, Dr. Yumaine said he had faith in the D.R.C.'s ability to respond quickly and effectively.
He said that they're encouraged by their improvements. We are not going to stop there.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
