Change in pace of Ebola infection may be due to traditional burial practices
The reason the number of new Ebola infections has stabilised in Liberia and Guinea but new cases continue in Sierra Leone may be down to the way victims are buried, says the WHO
A slowdown in Liberia’s Ebola outbreak and the continued rampant rate of infection in Sierra Leone may reflect contrasting ways the two countries are dealing with burials, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.
Ebola victims are most infections right after death, which means that traditional West African funerals, where families often touch the bodies, can cause the disease to spread rapidly.
Pierre Formenty, the leader of the WHO’s Emerging and Epidemic Zoonotic Diseases team, said major efforts had been undertaken to make funerals safe, with more attention paid initially to Liberia than Sierra Leone.
At least 4,818 people have died in the outbreak in West Africa, but while the spread is slowing in Liberia and stable in Guinea, two-thirds of new cases in the past three weeks have been in Sierra Leone.
The Red Cross, which is leading the campaign for risk-free funerals, has conducted more than 2,200 burials in Liberia, but only 909 in Sierra Leone.