Guinea govt is tracking down people who potentially had contact with Ebola victims
CONAKRY, Feb 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Five people have now died from Ebola in Guinea as the government launched an urgent contact-tracing search after the disease’s latest reappearance.
Guinea announced the outbreak on Saturday – the first in West Africa since a 2013-2016 epidemic that left more than 11,300 dead in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
According to an epidemiological report by the country’s health agency on Monday, five people have succumbed to the virus, rising from a death toll of four reported earlier in the day.
Only one of the victims was confirmed positive for Ebola with the remaining four listed as “probable cases”.
Two other people have tested positive, the health agency said, while another 10 are showing symptoms.
The first confirmed victim was a 51-year-old nurse, who died in late January. She was from Nzerekore near the town of Gouecke in the forested south of the country.
Two of the nurse’s brothers who attended her funeral on Feb 1 have also died, a health official who requested anonymity said.
It remains unclear who the other victims are, or whether they attended the nurse’s funeral. — NNN-AGENCIESt
