MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th June, 2019) The combination of popular disbelief in the Ebola virus threat and increased number of violent attacks on aid organizations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is likely to cause another outbreak in the coming months, a prominent international relief organization said in a statement on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, the DRC Health Ministry confirmed on Twitter that a total of 2,008 cases of the Ebola virus disease, including 1,346 lethal and 539 cured, were registered in the DRC since last August.
"It is clear the current response to tackle Ebola isn't working. No matter how effective treatment is, if people don't trust or understand it, they will not use it. ... We fear another peak could happen in the next few weeks," Oxfam wrote, quoting its country director in the DRC, Corinne N'Daw.
According to the statement, many people in the DRC do not believe Ebola is real and avoid asking for a timely treatment. Furthermore, the increased number of violent attacks made most aid organizations to suspend activities toward immunization and quarantine activities.
This combination of ignorance and unfavorable security conditions is likely to cause another outbreak, N'Daw added.
This is already the 11th outbreak of Ebola in the DRC.
The Ebola virus is transmitted to humans from wild animals and is estimated by the World Health Organization to have a 50-percent fatality rate. Ebola is named after the DRC's Ebola River, near which the virus was discovered by Belgian microbiologist Peter Piot and his team in 1976.
