The Pan African Medical Journal (Jul 2020)

Unrecognized Ebola virus infection in Guinea: complexity of surveillance in a health crisis situation: case report

  • Ibrahima Camara,
  • Mamadou Saliou Sow,
  • Abdoulaye Touré,
  • Bakary Oularé,
  • Elhadj Ibrahima Bah,
  • Salifou Talassone Bangoura,
  • Alioune Camara,
  • Alpha Kabinet Keita

DOI
https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2020.36.201.24379
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 36, no. 201

Abstract

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The Ebola epidemic that raged in West Africa between 2013 and 2016 was the largest since the discovery of the virus in 1976. During this epidemic, more than 11,000 cases were notified with a lethality of over 67%. Several means of transmission have been described. The great difficulty noted during the epidemic was the estimation of the number of asymptomatic and paucisymptomatic cases, however there is evidence that this population has been in contact with the virus for some time. Thus, they could be a source for the spread of the epidemic. In this paper, we report in Guinea-Conakry three stories of probable pauci-symptomatic form of ebola disease that would have been the cause of massive infection in a population sorely tried by the epidemic between 2014 and 2015 in Guinea.

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