Bronx
Ebola virus outbreak in Guinea sparks fear in the Bronx

The deadly virus has claimed at least 87 lives already this year in Guinea and Liberia devastating transplants now living in the borough.

BY JENNIFER H. CUNNINGHAM
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, April 4, 2014, 5:34 PM

STAN HONDA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Guineans living in the Bronx are concerned about friends and family back home who are contending with a massive outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.

Bronx Guineans braced for more bad news Monday as a devastating outbreak of the Ebola virus continued to claim lives in their native West African homeland.

The borough’s Guinean community was scrambling to assemble an aid package to send loved ones — but they were struggling with what to send to battle a virus that has no cure and how to transport it to a country with sealed borders.

“We don’t know where to start,” Diallo Mamadou, 52, owner of LW African Market in a Guinean enclave on Third Ave. near East 166th St. in Morrisania. “This is what we are trying to sort out today and tomorrow.”

Ebola has claimed at least 87 lives since the outbreak earlier this year in Guinea and neighboring Liberia. There have been at least 134 confirmed cases of the virus, according to the World Health Organization. The illness, which has been mostly isolated to the southern portion of the country, can be spread by touching an infected person.

At Adaya Restaurant, a Guinean eatery on Webster Ave. in Tremont, men gathering for lunch said they’ve been glued to their phones, TV and Guinean news websites for the latest on the outbreak.

KJELL GUNNAR BERAAS/AP

Doctors without Borders workers prepare isolation and treatment areas for their Ebola, hemorrhagic fever operations, in Gueckedou, Guinea. Dr. Sakoba Keita, a spokesman for the health ministry, announced the virus had reached the city of 3 million.

Keita said Friday, March 28, 2014, at least 70 people have died in the country's south since the Ebola outbreak began last week.

“Everybody is worried about it,” said Bah Ousmane, 27, an entrepreneur. “When something like this happens in your country, it’s a very dangerous situation.”

His friend, Mamadou Diallo, 34, who was born and raised in Conakry, the Guinean capital, blamed the country’s government for what he said was a lax response to the virus.

“This has been happening since January, and the government was ignoring it until the end of March,” said Diallo, a cab driver. “It’s sad there is no cure, and we don’t know what is going on.”

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