Connect with us
Advertisement

Health

Ebola In DRC: Two Patients Declared Cured In Goma

Published

on

In an Ebola treatment center in Beni, July 13, 2019. © Jerome Delay / AP / SIPA
Advertisement

Congolese health authorities announced on Tuesday the cure of two Ebola patients after eleven days of treatment in Goma, the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a new proof of the effectiveness of two molecules recently put forward by an American study.

“We are very pleased to announce that of the four confirmed Ebola cases in Goma, two are cured. It is a strong message to us that Ebola is curable. Today, the drugs are there, “said Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, coordinator of the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We have two treatments now, the mAb114 and the REGN-EB3. So these are the two molecules that we will use because according to the results we have obtained so far, these two molecules are effective,” said the Congolese expert, a specialist and pioneer in the fight against Ebola.

Advertisement

Significant increase in survival rate

On Monday, US health authorities, who co-funded an Ebola treatment study, said the two drugs significantly increased the survival rate of patients in a clinical trial in the DRC.

Among the approximately 500 people whose data were analyzed (out of a total of 681 participants), the mortality fell to 29% with the REGN-EB3 and 34% with the mAb114, detailed Monday Anthony Fauci, director of the American Institute of Infectious Diseases and Allergies. For people not taking any treatment, the mortality rate is between 60 and 67%.

These two treatments are monoclonal antibodies that work by neutralizing the ability of the virus to affect other cells. “There were four molecules used to treat the sick. Two molecules have proved their effectiveness, mAb114 and REGN-EB3. I can not say more, “told Nigeria News Dr Celestin Ntawigenga coordinator of the response in Goma.

Advertisement

The wife of a goldsmith who died on August 2 in Goma, Esperance Nabintu and her one-year-old boy returned home after being declared cured by the health authorities.

The DRC has been affected by an Ebola epidemic since 1 August 2018. Since July, four cases have been recorded in Goma, the capital of North Kivu, raising fears of a spread of the epidemic in other Congolese cities and in neighbouring countries. neighboring countries.

Very contagious, hemorrhagic fever has already caused 1888 deaths, according to the latest figures of the authorities, dated August 10. The virus is transmitted to humans by certain wild animals, than between humans through direct and close contact, via the bodily fluids of a sick person.

Advertisement
Advertisement