Unsafe burials spread Ebola in West Africa

A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) says a rise in unsafe burials in Ebola-stricken Sierra Leone and Guinea has resulted in the spread of the epidemic. In its most recent situation report on the 14-month outbreak late Wednesday, the WHO said there were 39 unsafe burials in Guinea and another 45 cases in Sierra Leone during the week to February 15. Ebola, one of the deadliest viruses known to man, is spread only through direct contact with the body fluids of an infected person and therefore insuring safe burials of the highly infectious bodies of those who die from the virus has been a main concern in encountering the crisis.  

The report also warned that over 40 new cases in both countries have been identified only after infected people had died in their communities and not during treatment at official Ebola facilities. “Not only have these individuals not received potentially life-saving treatment, but other members of the community have been put at greater risk of exposure,” the UN agency indicated in its report. After a rise in Ebola cases affiliated to unsafe burials and patients being hidden from authorities, health workers in Sierra Leon started a new round of door-to-door search on Wednesday deep into remote parts of Ebola-hit Port Loko district, the fourth most populous district in the country.

“Teams of health workers backed by security personnel are trekking into outlying areas and knocking on doors of houses ... to check whether people are telling us the truth about not hiding sick people,” said Morlai Dumbuya, a coordinator of the operation. The WHO report further said, as of mid-February, 23,253 people in the world have been infected with Ebola and the epidemic has claimed 9,380 lives, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Guinea and Sierra Leone reported 52 and 74 new Ebola cases respectively in the week leading up to February 15. The numbers in both countries show a small decrease from the previous week. The WHO report also added that as of February 15, a total of 833 health workers have been infected with the deadly virus and 488 of them have died.