ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT

The Congolese authorities have been warned since 15 December 2002

The outbreak in Congo of the Ebola-type haemorrhagic fever could have been controlled, if the Congolese authorities had quickly taken preventative measures. Ever since 15 December 2002, they’ve been kept informed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and by the Conservation and Rational Use of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa (ECOFAC), that some large gorillas and villagers have died to the south of Lenguelengue village, in the Mbomo-Ekwata area. ECOFAC is a regional conservation and rational use of the forest ecosystems project in Central Africa, financed by the European Commission.

The Spanish researchers, Magdalena Bermejo and German Illera, who have been studying gorillas in Lossi village in recent years, report that eight families of gorillas (consisting of 139 individual animals) which have been researched since 1994, have disappeared from the area under study (40 sq. km in the sanctuary). Bermejo, Illera and their teams of trackers crisscrossed the area looking for signs of the animals; they only found a group of six gorillas on the edge of their particular area.

Two of the missing families had been accustomed to tourists coming to see them. They were the first lowland gorillas of this kind in Central Africa, and the constant flow of visitors generated a significant income for the local villagers. The Lossi Sanctuary was established at the request of the villagers, when they realized that the long-term income from this type of tourism was far higher than any short-term income received by hunting. The gorillas’ disappearance is obviously an enormous loss for the local people.

Mr Conrad Aveling is ECOFAC‘s organiser. He says: «The first deaths among these primates were announced on 26 November 2002 and in mid-December. Researchers at the Franceville International Centre for Medical Research (CIRMF) in Gabon, collected samples from the carcasses of four gorillas and two chimpanzees, which enabled them to confirm the presence of the Ebola virus in the six cases».

Worrying disappearances

Conrad Aveling says the Ebola epidemic has caused what seems to be a massive disappearance of the gorillas and chimpanzees in the Lossi Sanctuary (250 sq. km), located approximately 15 km south-west of the well-known Odzala National Park (13,600 sq.km). The scientists say the outbreak of the disease among humans could have been controlled, if the Congolese authorities had quickly taken preventative measures, following the first announcement of the outbreak on 15 December 2002.

The epidemic seems to be spreading from the west towards the east of Congo. At the same time, researchers with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), working in the Minkebe National Park (in the north of Gabon), had already reported the disappearance of a population of large primates from a 20,000 sq.km area. This took place between 1990 and 2000, and the Ebola virus could have been the cause. Three epidemics were reported between 1994 and 1996 in villages in the Minkebe area.

Aveling emphasises: «The area where the epidemic is taking place, is 60 km from Gabon, and is an area where hunters operate. Sometimes they touch the carcasses of dead animals, especially gorillas, lying on the ground. It’s in this very area, between the savanna and the forest, in the south-east of Mbomo, that the new epidemic has been declared. Also, there’s a number of gold prospectors’ encampments on the border with Gabon».

Small means for a major calamity

Aveling states: «On 7 February 2003, the team of Congolese doctors had a working budget of approximately 20 million CFA francs, which is a ridiculous amount for carrying out an effective fight against Ebola».

The Ebola virus takes its name from a river in Congo RDC. It was discovered in Congo RDC in 1976, at Yambuku which lies alongside the River Ebola. The same year, it was identified for the first time at Nzara, in Sudan’s West Equatorial Province, near this area. According to WHO, Ebola is a viral disease with no standard treatment. It is transmitted by direct contact with blood, secretions, bodies or the sperm of infected people. It is fatal in 50%-90% of cases. The onset of illness is abrupt and is characterized by a sudden fever, muscular pains and headaches. These are followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, kidney disorders; then comes internal and external bleeding.

Ever since 1976, the virus has been reappearing mysteriously and regularly in Central Africa. Between November 2001 and June 2002 at least 80 people died during the epidemic which was spread over the border between the north-east of Gabon and the north-west of Congo-Brazzaville (Mekambo-Ekata-Mbomo-Kelle). When this was happening, researchers from ECOFAC, CIRMF and  the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) reported the death of large primates in this same area and the Ebola virus was confirmed as existing in one of the carcasses. In many cases, it was confirmed that human beings were contaminated during the handling of carcasses of the large primates found in the forests.

The new outbreak in Lossi brings one to suppose that the devastating effects of the virus on these enormous primates could spread towards the east. The forests in and around Odzala National Park are known to contain the largest number of lowland gorillas in Africa. Bermejo and Illera registered up to 9 gorillas per sq. km in certain areas of Odzala. Researchers from the University of Rennes (France) working with ECOFAC, recorded up to 47 gorilla families when visiting just one 3 hectare clearing in the north of Odzala National Park.

The ECOFAC study programme beings one to fear that there could be a catastrophic decline in the number of large primates in their main habitat in Central Africa. This area is supposed to contain most of the lowland gorilla population in Central Africa, because: It’s a long way from the main population centres; there’s several national parks where they are protected; there’s a number of habitats particularly appreciated by the gorillas where they can live undisturbed by human beings.

• Antoine Lawson, Gabon, February 2003 — © Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment