Congo’s Ebola outbreak poses challenges for bush meat

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For 25 years, Patrick Matondo has earned a living buying and selling monkeys, bats and other animals popularly known as bush meat along the Congo River.

"But since Ebola was declared, business has decreased by almost half. It’s really, really bad,” the father of five said, standing on the riverbank in Mbandaka, a city affected by the deadly new outbreak of the Ebola virus.

The discovery of a handful of Ebola cases among Mbandaka’s more than 1 million residents has also hurt the economy, especially among traders of meat from wild animals.

The virus, which spreads through bodily fluids of those infected, has been known to jump from animals such as monkeys and bats to humans.

In West Africa outbreak four years ago that killed more than 11,000 people, it was widely suspected that the epidemic began when a bat infected a 2-year-old boy in Guinea.

A bush meat supplier works at Bimbo's big market, June 2, 2018. /VCG Photo

Usually, the wild animals are highly sought-after as popular sources of protein along with beef and pork, and cargo ships carrying the smoked meat arrive daily in the city, the trade hub for Congo’s northwestern Equateur province.

Meanwhile, bush meat markets still see locals bartering for the animals, both dead and alive.

Dr. Pierre Rollin, an Ebola expert with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said if the meat is cooked, smoked or dried it kills the virus. The people at greatest risk are hunters and butchers who process the meat, he said.

But traders said demand has dwindled because of Ebola, with sales for many dropping from about 100 animals a day to about 20.

Congo’s health minister, Dr. Oly Ilunga Kalenga, said there are no plans to ban sales of bush meat in the province since bush meat is not the primary way the Ebola virus spreads.

Instead, the government is focusing on good hygiene practices such as hand-washing, he said.

Health officials are also tracking down anyone who had close contact with anyone infected by the virus, offering an experimental vaccine and promoting safe burials and other practices.

Source(s): AP