DAKAR, Senegal -- With Guinea having declared an Ebola epidemic, neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia have put their citizens on high alert.
The three West African nations battled the world's deadliest Ebola outbreak from 2014 to 2016, which began in Guinea and killed more than 11,300 people. This year at least three people have died and four others have been infected in Guinea.
Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio has flown to consult with Guinean President Alpha Conde.
The new Ebola outbreak occurred in N'Zerekore in southern Guinea, where health officials detected suspicious cases of Ebola with patients presenting symptoms of diarrhea, regurgitation and bleeding. The sick had participated in the burial of a nurse Feb. 1 in Gouake, according to Guinea's Minister of Health Remy Lamah, who added that the first investigation counted seven cases, all of people older than 25, including the two women and one man who have died.
"The government reassures the population that all measures are being taken to stem this epidemic as quickly as possible. It invites the populations of the affected areas to respect hygiene and prevention measures and to report to health authorities in the presence of suggestive signs," Lamah said in the ministry statement.
The epidemic was declared after a crisis meeting Sunday. All suspected cases have been isolated in N'Zerekore and Conakry, the capital. Investigations have begun, a treatment center has opened and supplies have been sent to the region.
Traditional funerals in which people wash and touch the body of the deceased facilitate the spread of Ebola. It usually jumps to humans from infected animals, such as bats, and then spreads between humans via direct contact with bodily fluids.
Liberia's President George Weah has mandated health authorities "to heighten the country's epi-surveillance and preventative activities" and also ordered health officials to "immediately engage communities in towns and villages bordering Guinea and increase anti-Ebola measures."
Sierra Leone has activated emergency response systems and heightened surveillance for Ebola at the already closed border with Guinea, it said.
International humanitarian and medical organizations are also racing to help prevent further spread of the virus.
The World Health Organization has said it is working to be sure that vaccines developed during the last outbreak will be readily available as quickly as possible. Last month the World Health Organization said it was creating a global emergency stockpile of about 500,000 doses of the Ebola vaccine to help stamp out future outbreaks, but only 7,000 were available at the time of the statement. The Ebola vaccine being stockpiled is made by Merck.
"Time is of the essence. The resurgence of the virus in Guinea comes at the worst possible time when the country is already facing the covid-19 pandemic," said Mohammed Mukhier, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' regional director for Africa, adding that there is hope with scientific advances.
However, "Unless the response is swift, the health, economic and social impacts are likely to be immense for millions of people in a country with a relatively weak health system, and where more than half of the population lives below the poverty line."
The international and Guinea Red Cross say teams that include more than 2,500 volunteers have been activated in Guinea to provide contact tracing, psychosocial support, water and sanitation. Doctors Without Borders said it is also sending teams.
Information for this article was contributed by Jonathan Paye-Layleh and Clarence Roy Macaulay of The Associated Press.