NEWS: Ebola harder to get than malaria

‘One of the biggest challenges we are faced with in this outbreak is misinformation or poor understanding.’

The head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said yesterday poor understanding of Ebola was undermining the fight against the epidemic, pointing out the fever was harder to get than malaria.
 

USAID director Jeremy Konyndyk, in Liberia to support the fight against an epidemic which has claimed the lives of almost 1 500 West Africans, said educating people on how to protect themselves was the best way to beat Ebola.

“Compared with something like malaria, it is a much harder disease to get. But obviously much worse when you do get it,” he said.

“So helping people to better understand how they can protect themselves, how they can avoid Ebola, is a critical piece of controlling this outbreak.”

The epidemic has sent shockwaves throughout the world since it emerged in southern Guinea at the start of the year, grounding fl ights to affl icted countries and damaging African economies.

But the death toll since it was discovered in 1976 is under 3 000 while, at conservative estimates, malaria is estimated to kill that many people every two days – the majority of them African children aged under five.

Ebola transmission can be prevented by avoiding contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids.

Malaria, spread through the bite of the Anopheles mosquito, often while the human host is asleep, is more difficult to avoid.

“One of the biggest challenges we are faced with in this outbreak is misinformation or poor understanding. You know Ebola is not a hard disease to avoid – if you know how to avoid it,” Konyndyk said.

Konyndyk is due to hold talks with the affected communities in Liberia, where 624 people have died, as well as health authorities in the field and the government.

USAID is a government agency working in more than 100 countries, with a mission to end extreme global poverty.

Meanwhile, Nigeria revised its confirmed number of Ebola cases from 14 down to 13. This included five deaths.

Abuja blamed the reporting of a 14th case on a recent false positive.

Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said there were three people currently being treated at a special isolation unit, but that one was “for imminent discharge after necessary protocols”.

All five deaths from Ebola and confirmed cases have occurred in Lagos.

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