Relatives are transporting the bodies of Ebola victims on public transportation, dressing them up and seating them between passengers on buses, or riding with the bodies in taxis in an attempt to get past health authorities, all the while, spreading the disease all over again.
The Ebola epidemic started in Guinea in December 2013 and then spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. But while the WHO thought the epidemic was finally under control, Ebola has now reared its ugly head again in Guinea, with 27 new cases reported for the week of May 14 through May 20.
According to a WHO summary report dated May 20, 2015, The 27 cases last week are a significant increase from the seven cases reported the week before. Most of the cases are from the western prefectures of Dubreka (11 cases) and Forecariah (11 cases), with the remaining five cases reported from the northwestern prefecture of Boke, which borders Guinea-Bissau.
The admonitions against touching the body of an Ebola victim because of the highly infectious nature of the disease goes against hundreds of years of tradition in many African nations. Family members still want to give their relatives a proper burial and prepare their souls for the afterlife. Many family members will go to any extremes to get the deceased back to their home village when they have died elsewhere, and that is what is happening in Guinea today.
According to the Associated Press, Police Capt. Claude Onivogui was quoted as saying, “It is regrettable that some families with the help of transport providers are dressing up cadavers and seating them upright between other passengers in a taxi as though the person is still living when in fact it’s sometimes the body of someone who has died from Ebola. Every day we are finding bodies in these conditions, and that’s what is spreading the contagion.”
It is against the law in Guinea to transport the bodies of Ebola victims from one community to another, but one anti-Ebola committee member, Rabiatou Serah says families have been very successful in avoiding authorities. In addition, villagers are very suspicious of outsiders, and this has complicated efforts to investigate these cases.
The biggest worry now is the threat of Ebola spreading along Guinea’s northern border into Guinea-Bissau. This would be devastating to an impoverished country that has been through years of coups and military rule and has little if any health care facilities.