A new Ebola outbreak in Congo has killed 65 people as officials investigate the virus
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Africa’s top public health agency confirmed a new Ebola outbreak in Congo on Friday after 65 deaths and 246 suspected cases were recorded in the remote Ituri province.
Health authorities are now investigating whether the outbreak involves the Ebola Zaire strain — the deadliest and best-known strain of the virus — or a variant, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Neighboring Uganda has also confirmed an Ebola-related death involving a Congolese man whose case officials say was imported into Congo.
The outbreak is centered in the health zones of Mongwalu and Rwampara in eastern Congo, an area near the borders of Uganda and South Sudan where officials have warned there is a risk of regional transmission due to mining-related traffic, weak infrastructure and ongoing insecurity.
EBOLA REPORTED IN AFRICA — HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Health workers wearing protective suits tend to an Ebola victim in an isolation tent in Beni, Congo, on July 13, 2019. (Jerome Delay/AP)
Ebola is a highly contagious and fatal disease that is spread through bodily fluids including blood, vomit and semen. Symptoms can include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and internal bleeding.
The Africa CDC said only four deaths have been confirmed so far, while testing and tracing efforts continue to find difficulties involved in the outbreak.
Preliminary tests have suggested that the outbreak may not involve the Ebola Zaire strain, which caused the devastating Congo epidemic of 2018-2020 that killed more than 1,000 people.
UGANDA BEGINS VACCINE TEST FOR SUDAN STRAIN OF EBOLA Amid NEW OUTBREAK
Health workers walk with a boy suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus at a treatment center in Beni, eastern Congo, on September 9, 2018. (Al-hadji Kudra Maliro/AP)
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it sent a response team to the region last week to help local officials investigate the outbreak and collect samples.
The Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that Congo has a “strong track record” in responding to the Ebola outbreak and announced that the organization is releasing $500,000 in emergency funding to support management efforts.
Health authorities said Congo has stockpiles of drugs to treat Ebola and about 2,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, although officials cautioned that the vaccine is only effective against the Ebola Zaire strain and not against the Sudan or Bundibugyo variants.
A health worker sprays disinfectant on a colleague after working at an Ebola treatment center in Beni, eastern Congo, on September 9, 2018. (Al-hadji Kudra Maliro/AP)
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This marks the 17th Ebola outbreak recorded in Congo since the virus was first discovered in the country in 1976.
The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.
