Fears mount in Sierra Leone after fresh Ebola outbreak

A fresh outbreak of Ebola in a part of Sierra Leone where the virus was thought to have been contained has raised fears of a new, uncontrolled infection chain that could send the death toll soaring.

A Red Cross ambulance team was today sent to the remote district of Koinadugu, which had prided itself on being the only area to have kept Ebola at bay, to collect 30 corpses for medical burial.

Koinadugu has been operating a self-imposed quarantine for four months, thanks to the intervention of an expat businessman, Momah Konte, who returned from Washington and worked with local officials and tribal chiefs to try to prevent the spread.

The outbreak is a significant setback for the Ebola response force and the district, which two weeks ago remained resolved to control the spread of the virus that has officially infected 5,338 people and claimed 1,510 lives in the country.

The Red Cross said an emergency burial team was making the five-hour journey from Freetown to collect the bodies. A spokesman said that there were reports of a further 25 ill with Ebola and another 255 being monitored after coming into contact with the dead and the sick.

Koinadugu, which is home to more than 260,000 people, borders on Guinea, where the current outbreak started. It is populated by many remote villages with the movement of traders and farmers difficult to control.

The disease is widespread in the nearby districts of Bombali and Port Loko, where the Ebola response has been hampered by lack of resources.

There are no treatment centres in either district.

There were local reports that Ebola had been brought to the district by an infected man who had travelled to the eastern province of Sierra Leone for a funeral.

The national Ebola hotline says it is getting reports of four cases a day from the district, which is about five hours from Freetown. Guardian