CONAKRY, Guinea - Ebola, one of the world’s most deadly viruses, has spread from a remote forested corner of southern Guinea to the country’s seaside capital, raising fears that the disease, which causes severe bleeding and is almost always fatal, will spread beyond the tiny West African nation’s borders.
In the first outbreak of its kind there, Ebola already has killed at least 70 people, including one man whose family took him to Conakry, the capital, for medical treatment. Now six of his relatives and two others exposed to him are being kept in isolation at a hospital.
Health officials warn that the arrival of Ebola could spell disaster in a sprawling city with 2 million people and an international airport. Among the poorest countries in the world, Guinea has limited medical facilities and a large population living in slums where the virus could spread quickly.
Senegal’s Ministry of Interior has ordered all movements of people through the southern boundary to Guinea suspended indefinitely to prevent the spread of the disease, according to a statement published Saturday by the staterun press agency, APS.
“Poor living conditions and lack of water and sanitation in most parts of Conakry poses a serious risk of this epidemic spiraling into a crisis,” said Ibrahima Toure, the Guinea director for the aid group Plan International.
Panic already has grown among residents since the government announced the Conakry cases late Thursday on national television. Although most days as many as 300 patients seek treatment at Donka Hospital, fewer than 100 went Friday as news spread that the Ebola patients were being quarantined there.
“My daughter is sick and coughing, but I prefer to keep her at home. I wouldn’t set foot inside Donka Hospital for anything in the world right now,” said Djalikatou Balde, a teacher.
International aid groups like Doctors Without Borders and Plan International are trying to educate Guineans about how the disease is spread, and working to identify and isolate anyone who might have been exposed. There is no cure for the disease, and the virus strain in Guinea has a fatality rate of up to 90 percent. Some 111 people have fallen ill already, and authorities in neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone are also investigating suspected cases.
The Economic Community of West African States expressed “deep concern” about the outbreak Friday and called for international help to thwart the “seriousthreat” it poses to regional security.
“Above all, we must avoid widespread panic,” said Marie-Christine Ferir, emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders. “That is why it is so important to spread correct information so people understand the disease and how to protect themselves.”
Medical teams have been traveling on foot to villages where cases have been reported. The number of people possibly contaminated expanded exponentially when the Conakry patient traveled about 300 miles across the country in search of help.
The outbreak involves the Zaire strain of Ebola, the most common and deadly of the five known varieties, with a mortality rate of as much as 90 percent.
The Ebola virus causes severe hemorrhagic fever in patients, in some cases leading to deaths in which patients bleed both internally and externally. Its initial symptoms - high fever, headache and weakness - can mimic malaria.
Joseph Gbaka Sandouno, a program unit manager with Plan International in the village of Gueckedou, said it’s been especially difficult for people to stay calm after having witnessed “frightening scenes where people have died with severe bleeding.”
“People are getting desperate as every other daysomebody is dying,” he said, noting that 51 of the deaths had taken place there. “People are saying only God can save us now.” Information for this article was contributed by Krista Larson of The Associated Press and by Ougna Camara and Adibou Marone of Bloomberg News.
Front Section, Pages 9 on 03/30/2014