The young Guinean lady, declared positive to the Ebola virus on Ivorian soil, on August 14, 2021, has “recovered,” following biological tests, Professor Serge Eholie said on Tuesday, during a press briefing in Abidjan.
“We have done the two virological tests of 48 hours which proved negative,” said Professor Serge Eholie, the spokesman for the Health Watch Committee, assuring that “we can consider virologically that she is cured.”
Professor Eholie said that from today, after discussion with technical partners, the WHO in particular, there will be a “count for 42 days” from which we can say that Cote d’Ivoire is Ebola-free, if there is no new case.
“Today, we will lift the isolation of this patient since she is no longer contagious, but keep her in hospital because she is very tired,” to allow her to recover physically and psychologically, he added.
The update of the last 48 hours shows that the health status of the patient is “stable,” he went on, announcing that “the biological products for the confirmation of virological tests had left the laboratory on Thursday for Lyon, France.”
As for the search for contacts, the Health Watch Committee is “very active” to find the contacts of the patient, said Professor Serge Eholie, adding that “an early warning system has been established and based on community approaches.”
In terms of vaccination, “we are at 1,420 people vaccinated and 60 percent of these people are first and second level contacts,” he declared, stressing that it should be extended across the country.
The Ivorian Minister of Health, Public Hygiene and Universal Health Coverage, Pierre Dimba, officially announced that after the virological that which proved negative, the country will start the 42-day counting phase.
“During this period, what will characterize our response strategy is really to activate our health watch committee, which means working with great rigor and consistency and making necessary alerts” to find the remaining contact cases, he said.
“Apart from this patient, there is no other case in our country,” the Minister reassured, admitting however that his department has “not been able to identify all contact cases.”
The Ministry had, on August 14, 2021, declared this first positive case of Ebola virus in the country since 1994. The announcement was made after the Pasteur Institute of Cote d’Ivoire confirmed the presence of the Ebola virus in samples taken from a patient from Guinea.
AP/ls/fss/abj/APA