In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing an upsurge in Ebola and plague cases. A situation more and more difficult to manage.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one virus can hide another. And even several. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, last July, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted, in the DRC, "an upsurge in cases of plague" in the province of Ituri. At the beginning of last February, it was the turn of the Ebola virus to reappear in West Africa, more particularly in the DRC and Guinea.
If Ebola is making a strong comeback in this part of the continent, it is anything but a surprise. For a person in charge of Médecins sans frontières (MSF), this virus “cannot be eradicated, because it exists in nature”. His return was therefore "predictable". Unlike the coronavirus, Ebola is "not very contagious", specifies the NGO which indicates that "its reproduction rate is only 1,5, because it is necessary to come into close contact with an infected person, in especially with his bodily fluids ”.
The DRC used to Ebola and the plague
And if it were not fatal, the virus would only be a formality for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC is indeed in its twelfth epidemic of this disease. Since 2019, there has been a vaccine prequalified by the WHO. In case of rapid detection of Ebola, monoclonal antibodies also exist. What to predict a good management of the virus in a DRC which has set up a more effective surveillance system than before.
For the plague, on the other hand, management is more difficult. Eastern DRC is conducive to the development of this disease. It is indeed "an area where the plague reappears frequently and unpredictably", explains Dr Laudisoit, epidemiologist with the American NGO Ecohealth Alliance. And plagues have all their specificities: pulmonary, septicaemic or bubonic ... The response must adapt to all types of plagues. The DRC has already recorded more than thirty deaths, while more than 500 cases of plague have been detected since the reappearance of the disease last November. A disease that the DRC has known for nearly a century.
A health system dedicated to the fight against Covid-19
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is therefore accustomed to both Ebola epidemics and plague. But the arrival of Covid-19 a year ago has changed the situation. The fight against the coronavirus weakens the response against Ebola and the plague. First, because the world has its eyes riveted on Covid-19 and leaves little room for prevention against other diseases. The DRC experienced a large measles epidemic a year ago, like Chad and the Central African Republic. An epidemic that went completely unnoticed. Then, because the health system is already organized to manage the coronavirus pandemic.