Scale of Guinea’s ebola epidemic ‘unprecedented’, says aid agency

Guinea faces an ebola epidemic on an unprecedented scale as it battles to contain confirmed cases now scattered across several locations that are far apart, Médecins Sans Frontières said on Monday.

The warning from an organisation used to tackling ebola in central Africa comes after Guinea's president appealed for calm as the number of deaths linked to an outbreak on the border with Liberia and Sierra Leone hit 80. The outbreak of one of the world's most lethal infectious diseases has alarmed a number of governments with weak health systems, prompting Senegal to close its border with Guinea and other neighbours to restrict travel and cross-border exchanges.

Figures released overnight by Guinea’s health ministry showed that there had been 78 deaths from 122 cases of suspected ebola since January, up from 70. Of these, there were 22 laboratory confirmed cases of ebola, the ministry said. There have been two further deaths in Liberia.

"We are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen in terms of the distribution of cases in the country," said Mariano Lugli, co-ordinator of MSF's project in Conakry, the Guinean capital.

The organisation said it had been involved in nearly all other recent ebola outbreaks, mostly in remote parts of central African nations, but Guinea is now fighting to contain the disease in numerous locations, some of which are hundreds of kilometres apart. “This geographical spread is worrisome because it will greatly complicate the tasks of the organisations working to control the epidemic,” Mr Lugli added.

The outbreak of ebola – a disease that leads to vomiting, diarrhoea and external bleeding, with a fatality rate of up to 90 percent – has centred on Guinea’s southeast. But it took authorities six weeks to identify the disease, allowing it to spread over borders and to more populated areas.

Cases were last week confirmed in Conakry, bringing the disease – previously limited to remote, lightly-populated areas – to a sprawling seaside capital of two million people.

Guinea's President Alpa Condé appealed for calm. "My government and I are very worried about this epidemic," he said on Sunday, ordering Guineans to take strict precautions to avoid the further spread of the disease. "I also call on people not to give in to panic or believe the rumours that are fuelling people's fears," he added. – (Reuters)