Long-term wildlife mortality surveillance in northern Congo: a model for the detection of Ebola virus disease epizootics.

ABSTRACT: Ebolavirus (EBOV) has caused disease outbreaks taking thousands of lives, costing billions of dollars in control efforts and threatening great ape populations. EBOV ecology is not fully understood but infected wildlife and consumption of animal carcasses have been linked to human outbreaks, especially in the Congo Basin. Partnering with the Congolese Ministry of Health, we conducted wildlife mortality surveillance and educational outreach in the northern Republic of Congo (RoC). Designed for EBOV detection and to alert public health authorities, we established a low-cost wildlife mortality reporting network covering 50 000 km². Simultaneously, we delivered educational outreach promoting behavioural change to over 6600 people in rural northern RoC. We achieved specimen collection

SUBMITTER: Kuisma E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6711308 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature