13 Ebola cases in DRC
The number of confirmed cases in Democratic Republic of Congo's new outbreak of the Ebola virus has risen to 13, including three deaths, the health ministry said late on Saturday.
The World Health Organisation has warned that this new outbreak of the deadly virus in North Kivu province poses a particular challenge as the region is a “war zone” with several active armed groups and thousands of displaced people.
The nearby city of Beni and heavily travelled borders with Uganda and Rwanda also complicate efforts to contain the disease, which is spread via contact with the bodily fluids of those infected, including the dead.
Congo announced the latest outbreak on Wednesday with four confirmed cases, a week after declaring the end to a previous outbreak in the northwest with 33 deaths.
It is not clear whether the new outbreak, more than 2 500km away, is related.
The swift vaccinations of more than 3 300 people helped in containing the previous outbreak, and WHO has said it hopes to know as early as Tuesday whether the Ebola strain in this new outbreak is the one for which the vaccine can be used. The WHO emergencies director has said 3 000 vaccine doses are still in DRC's capital after being positioned there for the earlier outbreak. WHO can mobilise up to 300 000 more doses “at very short notice,” Dr Peter Salama said Friday. DRC's health ministry said vaccines would be moved from Kinshasa to Beni as soon as the “cold chain” to keep them at the optimal temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius is reached.
NAMPA/AP
The World Health Organisation has warned that this new outbreak of the deadly virus in North Kivu province poses a particular challenge as the region is a “war zone” with several active armed groups and thousands of displaced people.
The nearby city of Beni and heavily travelled borders with Uganda and Rwanda also complicate efforts to contain the disease, which is spread via contact with the bodily fluids of those infected, including the dead.
Congo announced the latest outbreak on Wednesday with four confirmed cases, a week after declaring the end to a previous outbreak in the northwest with 33 deaths.
It is not clear whether the new outbreak, more than 2 500km away, is related.
The swift vaccinations of more than 3 300 people helped in containing the previous outbreak, and WHO has said it hopes to know as early as Tuesday whether the Ebola strain in this new outbreak is the one for which the vaccine can be used. The WHO emergencies director has said 3 000 vaccine doses are still in DRC's capital after being positioned there for the earlier outbreak. WHO can mobilise up to 300 000 more doses “at very short notice,” Dr Peter Salama said Friday. DRC's health ministry said vaccines would be moved from Kinshasa to Beni as soon as the “cold chain” to keep them at the optimal temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius is reached.
NAMPA/AP
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